


The Many Deaths of Uchiha Izuna

by flavone



Category: Naruto
Genre: Added graphic violence tag just in case, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Changed rating to mature just in case, Family, Friendship, Gen, Izuna restarts the Day every time he dies, Lots and lots of trust issues, Sort Of, Time Loop, Uchiha Izuna Lives, and canon gets murdered in the process, everyone is trying, it's not fun for him, not a tragedy, they just have trust issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:48:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27317266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flavone/pseuds/flavone
Summary: Uchiha Izuna just wants his clan to survive and his brother to be happy; is that too much to ask?Uchiha Izuna lives (sort of)Or... Izuna's Mangekyo lets him restart a day over and over every time he dies. Canon gets smashed to pieces in the aftermath.
Comments: 357
Kudos: 478
Collections: THE naruto fic list, why im sleep deprived 💖✨, wwwwwww





	1. Beginning with an End

The day began as every other day had. He woke up to a blank ceiling, prepared his weapons, and ate breakfast with Madara to discuss strategies for the day. He hadn't expected that it would lead to a border encounter with not one, or two, but all three of the elite Senju fighters.

Izuna didn't believe in luck, but he was extremely relieved that all three elite Uchiha fighters were present as well.

Rumors of numerous Senju patrols required their best fighters to investigate, and Uchiha numbers were low enough without foolishly sending too few strong fighters to a dangerous situation.

* * *

The Liar-Senju was spouting promises of peace at his brother, and, as always, Madara was idealistic and trusting enough to listen. Izuna scowled as he watched his older brother dance around tree branches, neither advancing or retreating, just willingly setting himself up in a stalemate. The idiot. Couldn't he tell that the Senju was just trying to reel him in with his lies, so that he could strike when his guard was lowered?! The Liar-Senju was strong, yes, but not strong enough to defeat Madara. Madara was too fast to get impaled on the Senju's branches, so the Senju was trying to find another way to kill him.

And the Senju was no idiot. He had failed to kill Madara they were children, but was now capitalizing on that history of 'being friends' to confuse his brother.

Izuna scowled. Meeting several times at the banks of a river and arguing did not make one friends. Rivals, maybe, but not friends.

Friends fought side by side and watched each other's backs. They shared meals and stories that they would hesitate to tell their family. They lifted your spirits when it felt all hope was lost, and were there to drag you back after every battle.

And you could fight with your friends, but you would never ever torture a friend's family like the Liar-Senju had.

Izuna would never forget the look on his younger cousin's face when he told them that yes, his father had made it back, but no, he would not survive. He didn't have the heart to tell little Kagami that his father had only delayed a voluntary suicide to tell his son goodbye, but hadn't able to stay conscious long enough to do even that. They had waited to see if the man would wake up, but instead the wound had festered and sent him into a fever. There was no chance of survival, but the smallest chance that he might wake up to say goodbye to Kagami stayed their hand from ending his pain.

Like every other one of his clansmen who took hits from the Senju, he died slowly. Doomed by ruptured organs and infection, just as all the other victims had.

Izuna may hate the White Demon, but at least he killed quickly. Cleanly, even. But that didn't make up for the fact that he was still killing his cousins and uncles and neighbors, and even the few civilian Uchiha he ran into.

The White Demon was honest about how much he wanted the Uchiha dead.

The Liar-Senju had brought an overwhelmingly large number of shinobi with him, and was talking of peace between the clans. Why bring so many if he wanted peace?

Izuna narrowed his eyes at the Senju warband.

His rival was staring at a point near him, too smart to risk meeting eyes. Izuna readied his sword. Madara's talk with the Liar-Senju was coming to an end. There would be no peace agreement at the moment (Izuna was proud that his brother stood strong against the Senju attempt to bully him into submission with numbers), but his brother was still considering a deal, so Izuna decided he still had some work to do. He needed his brother to see how the actions of the Liar-Senju were forever contradicting what he said.

And actions were known to show more of a person's character than any empty words could.

No matter what Madara wanted to be true, there was always an absolute truth, and in this case the truth was that the Senju and Uchiha could not coexist. The cycle of death and war would only end when one was gone, and Izuna would be damned if he let his clan die.

* * *

The battle began as every other had. He dashed for the White-Demon, while his brother ran at the Liar-Senju. Hikaku faced off against the Senju genjutsu master, and the rest of the Uchiha clashed with the enemy fighters.

The White Demon struggled to keep up with his speed, but had a seemingly infinite reservoir of chakra. More than Izuna had, so Izuna brought the range in close and darted around the White-Demon, making jabs and targeting openings as he saw them. Izuna wasn't surprised when a massive water dragon made its appearance. He scowled. The White-Demon had cut down the number of hand-signs he used even further.

And the water dragon had forced a space in between them. Too much space. It was too far to close the distance before the Senju sent another massive jutsu his way. Izuna readied his sword, seeing the Senju doing the same.

He would need to strike quickly.

His Sharingan spun slowly, trained on the White Demon. Unlike with Madara and the Liar-Senju, there was no room for error in their battles.

His eyes narrowed. The Senju was doing something -

It was almost too fast to see.

Almost.

But it was too fast to avoid.

Izuna helplessly tried to dodge, throw himself to the side, counter the strike, anything. But the White Demon had just flickered into and behind him and his chest was cold and stinging-

He choked, feeling blood - so much blood - soaking his clothes. His head was light, drifting, and the White Demon was somewhere - where was the bastard?!-

His knees gave out, dropping him down to the ground - wait. He never hit the ground. Madara was here.

Why was his brother here? There was a battle. Why was he dropping his guard?!

Was this the Senju plan? Take him out so Madara was alone?!

What was going on?! He felt his brother pull him away from the fight. Had the White Demon tried to attack while Madara was carrying him away?

He coughed and ignored the bloody spittle, scowling at the Liar-Senju. The bastard was fake-pleading with Madara - as if he never wanted Izuna to be injured. As if he and his brother weren't both in agreement on their plans for the future.

"Brother! Don't listen to his lies!"

* * *

Hours passed after he was rushed into the healing rooms. The bed that had been cleared just a week prior - a victim of the Liar-Senju that only lasted three days before succumbing to his wounds. Izuna didn't feel any luckier.

Madara was silent - as was the rest of the compound. They were all but mourning already.

Izuna fumed inside. He was always the opponent of the White Demon, Madara was always fighting the Liar-Senju, and Hikaku against the Genjutsu-Senju. Without him to keep the White Demon at bay, Madara and Hikaku would need to split their attention. Something they couldn't feasibly do, no matter how determined they were.

The situation was untenable. Izuna could see the way the future would twist out. The Uchiha would be forced to accept the Liar-Senju's terms if they wanted to survive. And then the Senju would ruin the Uchiha - be it through murder, brainwashing, or bloodline theft.

That future was unacceptable to him.

His brother would die. His family would die. The Senju-bastards would kill them all, and all because Izuna hadn't been fast enough.

He felt his eyes burn.

He heard shouts as the world burned with him.

And then he woke up to a blank ceiling.


	2. An Alternative Ending

Izuna blinked. Lifted an arm up.

He felt the skin where he had been run through.

It was smooth, unblemished. As if the White Demon had never bested him in combat.

He paled and pulled out his sword, checking the steel for his reflection.

There were bloody tear tracks down his face. His mangekyou had to be the reason everything was at it was earlier that day - or was it yesterday? It didn't matter - This was a chance to succeed where he had failed his brother before.

He wiped away the blood and gathered all the supplies he could.

Madara needed to know.

They could increase the number of fighters on the patrol so that this time, the Senju would be the ones outnumbered.

* * *

They slipped through the forest, leading all available Uchiha fighters with them. Madara was fully focused on absorbing the information Izuna gathered during the "previous" day.

"And the White Demon?"

Izuna clenched his teeth. "He has a new Jutsu - too fast to dodge, it was almost as if he teleported behind me."

The sounds of the forest echoed around the brothers as they led the patrol closer to the Uchiha-Senju border.

Madara nodded his head slowly, considering.

"...I see."

* * *

Izuna was prepared this time, he knew that the jutsu existed. He had let Madara know, too. No one could be surprised by it. No one should have been.

So why was he in the same situation again?

He watched the White Demon make the hand sign. He brought his own up for a body-flicker. But his rival had not earned his title lightly. Who would be faster?

Tobirama flickered. Izuna flickered. Or was it the other way around?

His eyes widened as he saw what he had missed in the heat of combat the first time. The Senju wasn't moving in any normal way – it was instantaneous. And the White Demon was suddenly **right there** -

Izuna felt himself fall backward as a flash of navy blue intercepted him. _Madara!_ He felt his side and wiped away a thin trickle of blood. _Madara blocked the jutsu!_

He smirked toward the White Demon, where the man stood horrified, then turned back to Madara. His older brother was standing protectively in front of him, but he was moving strangely.

Izuna paled when he saw the blood seep through his brother's side.

In a flash, he darted forward, Sharingan spinning wildly. He ignored the White Demon when the Senju retreated. All the noise on the battlefield was a haze to Izuna as he took in his brother's appearance.

His brother was paling, with every breath coming out as a struggling hiss. Blood was dripping freely onto the ground.

Izuna's eyes darted around the area – he needed to get Madara away from the danger!-

Remembering to breathe was a chore as he swept his brother off his feet and **ran**. He passed deep into the Uchiha ranks before daring to ease Madara to the ground, his brother's upper-half still cradled against his side. Izuna refused to let him go.

The other fighters formed a protective ring around them as Izuna scrambled to cut cloth away from his uniform. He needed to staunch the bleeding.

It was much worse than his had been. Like Madara hadn't even thought of dodging.

There was a red puddle forming beneath them. Izuna's focus flitted about as he tried to **do** something. He found it hard to get enough air.

Madara **couldn't** die.

It was impossible. It wasn't allowed.

He was **Madara** -

"…Izuna?"

Izuna blinked, swallowing thickly.

His brother's coal-black eyes – too little chakra to keep the Sharingan active – flickered behind Izuna before he pursed his lips. It was the same face he made every other time he was in deep thought. Making a decision that he knew was necessary but not approved.

Izuna felt himself lean closer and grabbed Madara's hand. He kept his grip tight even as his brother's gradually – painfully – loosened. No matter how long he kept the pressure up, the bleeding **wasn't stopping**.

"You…" His brother took in a faint breath. "Please, little brother, without both of us…"

It was obvious. Without Madara, the Uchiha were as good as dead. Both of the Senju monsters were still alive, after all. The Liar and the Demon.

Izuna clenched his jaw, but kept quiet.

"Take Hashirama's deal." Izuna froze as Madara gave his hand a light squeeze. It grounded him even as he felt his mind drifting. Revisiting Sharingan memories of the moment when everything went wrong. When Madara took his place. When the White Demon stabbed **his brother**.

Madara continued. "Even if it is impossible for our generation to have peace, maybe… by laying the foundation?..." Madara trailed off with a cough, which turned into a coughing fit.

Izuna kept his face solemn, and eyes dry. He needed to be strong for his clansmen. For Madara.

He shuddered, but forced himself to look into Madara's rapidly dimming eyes.

"There will be peace, older brother. I will make it so."

And then he held his brother's hand until he was gone, a faint smile on his face.

Izuna gently closed glassy eyes. He slumped.

With a shudder, he stood and addressed his clansmen.

" **No one** touches him. I need…" _to doom my clan for my brother's wishes, but I don't care. Not anymore._

"I need to do something."

He couldn't betray his clan. He couldn't doom the Uchiha to betrayal.

But.

_Madara had asked_ -

And he had all but promised Madara.

On numb feet, Izuna turned toward the Senju. He didn't care about what they thought. He didn't care to look in their faces to see the gloating that had to be present. He didn't want to see celebrations or relief or **anything**!-

His brother was dead. And it was his fault.

Madara would not have gotten in the way of the jutsu if he hadn't known about it.

A few steps farther, then Izuna stood in front of the Senju party. The Liar was up front, the White Demon standing behind and out of sight. It was for the best, probably. He wasn't sure if he could restrain himself if the man had shown his face like nothing was wrong.

Izuna surveyed the Senju dully. He felt his stomach turn even as he said the cursed words, but he choked them out all the same.

"You have your peace, Senju." He gave them a parting glance.

"Now leave."

And then he turned back to his brother. He felt ill. Nothing was as it should be – was there even a point to posturing now? They were all at the mercy of the Senju.

The ones that killed his brother.

But it was his fault, too, wasn't it?

* * *

Izuna arranged his brother, preparing the body for transport. If his clan fell, it would also be his fault. His eyes narrowed.

He wasn't going to just lay down and die. And the Senju hadn't left yet.

He wouldn't let his clan die.

He stood, and the clearing went silent. The Senju were carefully still as he turned and walked back to the Liar-Senju and the White Demon.

"I have one requirement." He stared the Liar-Senju in the eyes. "For peace, Madara **will** be avenged."

He would not let them leave the field unscathed. The Liar-Senju frowned and the White Demon stiffened.

The Liar-Senju spoke first.

"A trade, then."

"Brother-"

A hand held up from the Liar-Senju. Izuna watched the White Demon back off with fists clenched in place. He was prepared to stab the Senju bastard in the eyes, all he needed was an excuse. Distantly, he watched the Liar-Senju step forward, then open his mouth. Izuna gripped the kunai in his sleeve.

"We accept."

Izuna swiveled all his attention to the Liar-Senju.

"We do not-"

"Tobi." And with a sigh, the Liar-Senju stepped forward.

"We **accept**."

The White Demon and the Liar-Senju shared a **look**. And then the White Demon looked up to Izuna. Red eyes met for the first time since before the deaths of their fathers. His face was blank and unfeeling.

With a quick hand signal to his clansmen, the White Demon stepped forward. The Liar-Senju stayed back with a bland look on his face, like he didn't care what the White Demon did with his life.

_So they would trade the White Demon for Madara._

Izuna readied his sword. Was this a trick? Or was he really giving himself up?

He nodded to himself, and then struck.

"Touka!"

* * *

Izuna should have known better.

He had always warned Madara of the Senju's lies. That they were only waiting for the Uchiha's guard to go down.

And in a brief moment where he thought them honorable, they struck.

He could feel the kunai where the Genjutsu-Senju had embedded it in his back. It burned more than a normal kunai wound should have. He sneered.

_Poison._

At the last moment of his attack, he had seen the White Demon move to get away, and heard the rustling of someone else's fabric behind him.

He didn't back away, though - he stuck with the attack. Madara would be avenged.

Izuna sent a scathing glare toward the White Demon, who had the audacity to not immediately lose his head as per Izuna's plan. The Genjutsu-Senju was standing next to the Demon, glaring and standing guard while the White Demon tried to speak to her. Izuna could feel the burning in his back reach his neck.

If he was going to die, he may as well try avenging himself as well, and may as well go out with a bang. He was already dead, after all. _It would also take out the issue of possible bloodline theft._

But he had to do it soon; the Liar-Senju was stirring into action. When had he had such slow reflexes - did he think the danger was all over because Madara was dead? Izuna flickered to the Genjutsu-Senju and glared, pouring all the chakra he had into one attack.

"Amaterasu."

He was satisfied to see the Genjutsu-Senju burn with him.

And, in another twist of fate, he woke up to the same blank ceiling.


	3. Days Three through Thirty-and-a-Half

The third day ended with another gut wound and Madara's worried face.

* * *

Izuna noticed that the ceiling was starting to blur on the fourth day. That day ended when he drowned in the White Demon's water dragon. Or maybe it was his broken ribs and punctured lung that did him in? It made no difference, either way.

* * *

By the fifth, he started planning. If he was going to come back every time he died, then there was time to observe and strategize. Time was of no issue.

* * *

The sixth and seventh were information gathering days. Izuna made sure to target every Senju at least once during the battle. Both days, he was cut down from behind when the White Demon finally managed to catch up to him. He was grimly satisfied that he at least lasted longer on the seventh day than the sixth.

It was evidence that he was getting better. He just needed to find the right course of action and the Senju would fall.

* * *

On the eighth, Izuna tested an ambush plan. It didn't work - he lost an arm - and he was forced into a fighting retreat with the few other Uchiha survivors. He died while blocking kunai from the Genjutsu-Senju that were aimed for his brother. She was quickly rising on his list of Senju that needed to be removed from the equation, because Madara was not allowed to die.

* * *

On the ninth day, he lost his head. Literally.

It was a mistake on his part to body flicker around the battlefield to block fatal attacks on his clansmen. He had done it in the spur of the moment, fueled by desperation and rage.

Even the strongest minds could snap under enough pressure, and watching family die in varying levels of pain over the past iterations of The Day was a form of torture all its own.

He learned to preemptively take out the dangerous Senju if he wanted his clansmen to survive.

* * *

The tenth day, Izuna was impaled in the place of his young cousin Daichi.

Though Daichi was thirteen, and quite combat-capable, he'd be damned if he let the kid die. Especially to such a lingering wound. Izuna could remember reassuring a eight-year-old Daichi after his civilian parents were killed on a trading mission. It took weeks before the kid got over his guilt that he hadn't been there for them, even though he had barely had 2 years of training at the time, and would not have stood a chance against the White Demon.

Even now, he wouldn't have stood a chance against one of the Senju elite - or at least the few that Izuna hadn't taken out already. The number of enemies had been significantly reduced since the beginning of the fight, so there were only a few that could have threatened Izuna's clansmen.

And with Izuna's luck, he just **had** to deal with the **worst** of them. The kid was safe (thankfully), but he had taken a tree branch to the chest for his troubles.

The day ended very similarly to the first, except the Liar-Senju made no attempt to trick his brother into a peace deal.

* * *

It became a pattern. Wake up, fight, die, and wake up again.

It didn't matter if it was blood loss as Madara ferried him away from the battlefield ( _I can take care of myself Izuna, why did you?-_ ), or instant death such as the one (and only) time someone cut off his head. The day always began again with the blank ceiling, and the taste of sour blood on his lips.

Because no matter what Izuna tried, the Uchiha just. kept. **losing**.

But.

He was getting better.

He learned to keep his Sharingan active at all times - a moment forgotten was information lost.

He learned the times to dodge and the times to strike during the battle. As long as he didn't change his behavior leading up to a moment, he could predict exactly what would happen and act accordingly.

Already, he had found numerous ways to delay the White Demon's Jutsu. The longer the bastard couldn't use it, the better. Everything typically fell apart after the Jutsu was used, after all.

* * *

Izuna didn't blink as he cut down two Senju - they would cut off Sadao's leg if he let them live any longer.

He frowned as the White Demon skirted around the edge of the battlefield. Madara was in the open, and had no idea that he was vulnerable to the White-Demon's Jutsu. Izuna would have to keep the Demon occupied and away from his brother.

He never told Madara about the never-ending day or the White Demon's Jutsu, and he didn't plan to. Izuna would trade watching the White Demon's unblockable Jutsu hit him a thousand times over again if it meant that he didn't need to hold his older brother close as he died.

Izuna shivered.

_Never again._

He ducked to the right, jumped over the incoming water dragon, and body-flickered to his rival.

Both froze in shock.

It just so happened that they body-flickered to within a foot of each other with no plans of attack.

They brought up their swords at the same time, and both struck true. But Izuna was the one to push the offensive after the swords came away bloody. It was too bad that he hadn't seen the Genjutsu-Senju pull out her poisoned kunai - he would have been able to finish killing the White Demon without her interference.

As it happened, however, Izuna only had a few seconds before the paralytic worked through his nervous system before he found himself waking up again.

* * *

He ignored the blurry ceiling, activated his Sharingan, and kept to his script through the initial battle.

But when the close encounter happened, Izuna was prepared.

He changed his destination just a few inches down and to the side, and was casting his Genjutsu even as he flickered forward. Red eyes met, and then Izuna poured every ounce of his being into the genjutsu. It was a delicate web of steel-hard willpower, woven in such a way that the only way to escape was to wait the scene out. _Hell-Viewing, the White Demon should be re-experiencing the worst moments of his life._

Izuna struck with his sword - but the Demon intercepted it. The Senju's eyes blazed angrily as Izuna narrowed his eyes in thought. Could the genjutsu have failed?

Another swing was ruthlessly blocked and the Senju turned toward him with his infuriatingly blank face. Izuna raised his sword, jaw clenched.

If the genjutsu wasn't working, then he needed to fix it. He needed to act now, too, because the Senju wasn't trying to avoid his eyes anymore. The man's confidence would be his downfall.

Izuna flickered closer to cast another Genjutsu and stopped short, hissing. He looked down to the sword lodged in chest.

The cursed Jutsu had made its reappearance.

* * *

Another day, another chance. Izuna would get it right this time. He **would**.

If bringing up a bad memory didn't help, then maybe a good one would be better? He had all the time in the world and no better ideas.

Izuna scowled. What could the emotionless Demon consider a good memory? He twisted away from the water dragon and prepared the modified illusion.

He flickered under the Demon's guard and cast the Genjutsu.

There was a heartbeat of silence as he stared at the Senju, whose eyes were blown wide.

"Itama?"

The word was said so softly, Izuna nearly mistook it for part of the Demon's breathing. The man was staring straight at Izuna, just as intently as he had in the previous attempt. The main difference was that this time, the glare was replaced by mild confusion.

But just as quickly as it had come, the confusion twisted into fury.


	4. Breaking Point

Izuna cursed as he dodged a raging water dragon. It shredded the ground, plowing a deep, muddy furrow across the battlefield, and split a tree at the other end in half. He retaliated by pouring more chakra into the genjutsu.

Despite the fact that by all rights, the Senju should have been incapacitated by now - reliving his happiest memories with no awareness of the real surroundings - the Demon didn't slow down, though his eyes were misted over.

Izuna scowled.

The Demon hadn't dispelled his genjutsu, or even **tried** to. It was still active and untampered with. But the Senju wasn't dropping - instead, his strikes were coming just a few tiny fractions of a second faster, and with every blocked hit Izuna felt himself pushed farther from the main battlefield. The water dragons were hitting with enough power to drill through stone, and any slip up was more likely to cause instant death than a mortal wound. But most tellingly - the Senju was sneering, and he made no effort to avoid eye contact.

The hatred Izuna saw there wasn't surprising.

Izuna would gloat about finally getting under the Demon's skin if it wasn't taking all of his focus to stay alive. (And stay alive he would - this time, he would kill the Demon - the Senju was less composed, borderline **sloppy** , and Izuna could **use** that.)

Another water dragon swept by him, for once nearly hitting due more to sheer volume rather than the Senju's typical precision. The Senju paused to catch his breath, eyes still glazed over. Izuna scowled but flickered into range, his sword ready. The Demon had burned through a large amount of chakra - even for **him**. He couldn't have much more in reserve. All he had to do was keep the Demon busy and wear him down until a finishing blow could be made. He couldn't give him any time to recover or use the teleportation Jutsu.

The Senju met him head-on, steel against steel, and Izuna danced around the Senju's guard to nick and cut at joints. Killing with a thousand cuts, or immobilization - either outcome was welcome. When even one of the Senju's excessive attacks could kill him outright, and he was just **so close** to finally saving his family, he wanted to do this **correctly**. Who cared how long it took if it would end in his family's safety.

They fell into a familiar pattern of strike and strike back, mortal wounds avoided with only instinct and skill. Izuna kept close, dancing around the Senju to make his thousand cuts.

Giving the Demon room to use a water dragon was ill-advised when the last one all but shredded a fully grown tree.

* * *

They drifted away from the main fighting out of chance, but Izuna made no move to return - he wasn't one to refuse a gift. No other fighters around meant no Genjutsu-Senju to stab him with her poisoned daggers, and no fellow Uchiha for the raging White Demon to kill.

He was glad that it was down to only the two of them. Madara wasn't nearby to be affected by Izuna's mistakes.

Izuna grimaced. Madara would be upset, but he had undeniable proof that the Senju were destined to be their enemies. The Senju's face without his mask was unnerving - cold rage mixed with manic determination.

He ducked around another raging torrent of water the Demon had drawn from empty air.

There was no possibility of the Liar-Senju wanting peace if his own **brother** held that much hate in his eyes. The level of loathing and killing intent the Demon was leaking only ever ended in one side left standing, or maybe none. But never two.

Izuna could only thank the kami that he hadn't fallen for the Liar's tricks.

* * *

When the Senju stumbled over a rock (of all things), Izuna struck. He pressed past the Senju's defenses, aiming for the stomach. Arms and legs could be moved quickly, a body's center of mass couldn't. It would also be poetic - the Demon had struck him in his side at the beginning of this all. Izuna could end it in a fitting way.

All things considered, it was rather anti-climatic. No loud declarations, no interference from any other Senju - they were both far from the battlefield by now.

The gasp from the Senju was satisfying, though, and Izuna flickered out of range to observe his work. His sword dripped red onto the field.

Sharingan took in the gash that ran from the Demon's left hip to the right side of his ribcage. Blood ran freely, as well as other bodily fluids. Izuna let out his breath.

It was done.

He smirked to himself. Now the Demon finally felt what it was like to be gutted-

Hands glowed green, and Izuna watched in horror as the wound shrunk - running through the stages of healing as if it were a small cut, and not a life-ending injury. Both ninja stood deathly still.

Izuna paled. It wasn't **fair**.

He had **died** so many times to try and kill the **Bastard** White Demon. Watched his clansmen fall out of his reach for years, cousins and aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces and his **father** all **ripped** from life one by one. Was helpless when his own brother had died saving his life - watched as the warmth in Madara's eyes glazed over in death!-

What made it fair that the **Senju** could heal himself? Was there no end to this? Would he be trapped forever trying to save his clan in vain? Was all of this pointless?

He took a shuddering breath.

How could you fight someone that could walk off injuries that would doom any of his clansmen? How could you win against a clan that had all the luck in the world hoarded for themselves?

**_How?_ **

Izuna clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at the Demon.

It wasn't fair. But who cared?

He wasn't going to just lie down and roll over just because the Senju could break the rules of nature. _No_. The Liar-Senju did that all the time, turning peaceful forests into objects of anxiety and terror. Why **wouldn't** his brother also have similar skills?

Izuna grit his teeth and raised his sword. He would keep fighting, and he wouldn't stop until the Senju threat was gone. Until his family could be **safe**.

He flickered back in range.

* * *

Izuna took a chunk out of the Demon's leg. The Demon blasted him through a tree with a water dragon.

Izuna retaliated by impaling the Demon on the tree right next to it. When the Demon forced him away and began healing himself, Izuna interrupted. He slashed a cut across the Senju's face with a snarl, and resumed his campaign of death by a thousand cuts. His Sharingan could see that the green glow was weakening, if only barely.

The Senju's chakra was finally running out.

The Demon was breathing heavily, and still hadn't dispelled the genjutsu, but he stubbornly held onto his sword and fought. Izuna was unamused. He was going to kill this man even if it took **years** of these repeats.

* * *

Eyes narrowed, the Senju seethed as he jabbed his way through familiar hand seals.

Izuna wasted no time dodging the raging water dragon sent his way. It was smaller than the earlier ones, but focused into a pinpoint of extreme water pressure. White foam skimmed the edge of his nose to drill through the oak tree behind him. It left a hole nearly a hand's width wide. While the Demon was reorganizing his chakra for another attack, struggling to compile enough, Izuna flickered in with his sword ready.

There was no time to set any Jutsu, and both forwent handsigns in favor of close sword combat.

Block the enemy's lunge, dodge under another, strike down, then left, then behind - _blocked_ \- and then try again.

_Another water dragon. How long will it take to drive him into exhaustion?!_

Flicker to the side before it can hit. Flicker back before he decides to use the teleporting Jutsu to get closer.

Cut into the Demon's side, slip around his guard, add another layer to the Genjutsu - the Demon was still glaring straight into his Sharingan whenever they faced each other. Strike again, and burn the leg so the Demon can't dodge as well.

_The Demon is still moving._

_But not healing anymore._

Izuna grinned. The Demon glared. Another strike - targeting the other leg. _That one is unusable now_. _And the Demon still isn't healing._

He flickered up a tree to survey his chances. Izuna was in bad shape - broken ribs, partially drowned from an inopportune water bubble, and cut in more places than he'd be able to name - but the Senju was worse. Multiple slashing and stab-wounds, and the beginnings of chakra exhaustion - the unsteadiness in the Demon's footing, glazed eyes, and impaired reaction speeds were **very** welcome sights.

The Demon had relaxed into himself, hunching over defensively in Izuna's absence. Izuna couldn't see any green glow, but he wouldn't take any chances. He dropped toward the Demon, sword ready. The Demon recovering enough to escape was unacceptable.

Izuna cursed as the Demon used his unnatural teleporting Jutsu to meet him in midair.

That **Bastard.**

* * *

He sucked in a breath. He had been **so close**.

Izuna twisted his sword in the White Demon's arm. He couldn't feel his legs or his back and the fucking demon bastard wouldn't let his arm **go**.

The Demon was holding him up by his shoulder with one arm - the one Izuna had impaled - while the other was presumably still holding the sword sticking out of Izuna's back. Izuna grit his teeth as a wave of dizziness hit _._

He glared at the Demon. He knew what the lack of feeling meant. And the dizziness. He wasn't going to survive much longer today, seeing as there was no way he was going to let the Senju have the satisfaction of taking him prisoner.

He refused to live as a cripple, and Madara couldn't be happy if he had to choose between his little brother and victory. And even if the Senju didn't **immediately** take advantage of the Uchiha, when Madara accepted the false peace to get Izuna back (because his brother was a _naive fool_ when it came to the Liar-Senju), Izuna would be in no shape to make sure the Senju **never** sprang their trap on the Uchiha. He wouldn't be able to stop it all.

An unacceptable outcome.

Izuna hissed, letting go of his sword, and pulled his hands up for a substitution jutsu. He would not be a prisoner.

There was a shout and a disorientingly painful jerk on his torso - did the bastard just twist the sword?! - before he was out of the Demon's hold.

Lying on the ground with no way to stand, and probably bleeding out rapidly (if the increasing nausea was any indication), but **free**.

With his arms below him, he lifted himself up and glared back at the Demon. He wouldn't be able to get to Madara, and with his legs useless, the only option remaining was death. He would take the Demon out with him - like all the other failed times.

How many more times would he fail? How many more **could** he?

His Sharingan deactivated - he would lull the Demon into a false sense of security - and the forest blurred around him.

Izuna grimaced. He could barely make out the face of the Senju as he approached. Izuna returned the glare he knew was coming from the Demon.

There was a clatter of metal.

_Which sword?_

And then he was staring at the Demon face to face.

_Only one chance to do this._

He breathed in slowly. Then reactivated his Sharingan and lunged.

* * *

Or at least tried to.

The Demon batted away his strike like it was a toddler's slap and Izuna clenched his jaw. His arm dropped and he just seethed. Of course he had lost too much blood to take the Demon out. Of course.

Because what was his life now but a series of **mistakes** and **failures**?

He glared at the Demon as the bastard brought up glowing green hands. The light was flickering and failing, but it was there.

Of course the Senju had enough chakra to heal himself. Why wouldn't he?

Because nothing was fair.

Izuna glared for the few seconds between this realization, and the Demon's lunge in his direction. Finishing him off with a grimace.

Then he woke up to a blurred white ceiling.


	5. Unbalanced

If it wasn't for his Sharingan, he would have long lost count of the number of times he had died.

Forty-five times, he had woken up to the same ceiling.

Forty-five days of steadily declining eyesight.

He had tried the same day over and over and **over** again, improving each time.

So why did he keep failing?

* * *

His only comfort was that he already knew what every mission report for the day discussed. Madara wouldn't need to worry over the fact that Izuna needed his Sharingan to read anything farther than a foot away from him.

* * *

Just like last time, the Uchiha patrol ran into the Senju patrol.

There were always just a few more Senju than Uchiha, no matter how many, or how few, Madara brought to fight.

Izuna glared at the White Demon. It had to be his fault. Everything that had gone wrong started with **him**.

The Liar Senju stepped forward.

"Madara, what are you doing here?"

Izuna scoffed. _Every time_. Madara narrowed his eyes.

"Patrolling, **Hashirama**."

The White Demon sneered. "You seem to have brought quite a few fighters with you for a simple patrol, **Uchiha**." _And so close to the border,_ his eyes screamed. Just like every other time.

Izuna sneered right back, gesturing toward the equally sizeable Senju patrol. He poured all his loathing of the Senju into his glare. They were hypocrites, talking of peace and turning around to try to gut the Uchiha forces. As if he could have peace when the Senju were planning on isolating and taking advantage of Madara.

_They **lie**._

They brought an obscene number of Senju to confront them. Claimed to be friends but didn't have the decency to give the Uchiha clean deaths.

He could still remember all the past times they faced the Senju down. The aftermath of each.

Hikaku with unseeing eyes. The feeling of losing his arm to Tobirama's sword. A dull ache and throbbing itch as he bled out.

A cousin slumping to the ground, cold and pale. Right next to his little brother - also dead.

Getting impaled by one of the Liar-Senju's branches. Feeling **ill** and **wrong** _,_ and the **burning** in his gut. But nothing below. Heaving up nothing but bile and helpless to just **move** from his place on the bloody ground.

Madara, limp in his arms. Insisting that he surrender and **survive** _,_ even as his blood stained Izuna's robes.

Izuna woke up every day tasting his blood from yesterday. Every second of every death - every defeat - ingrained in his Sharingan. He would never forget.

And the Senju were, yet again, talking about **peace**.

Izuna's grip was like the steel of his sword. Unyielding. Cold. Sharp.

He poured his loathing of the Senju into his glare. His voice took on a vicious edge.

"Like you're one to talk, **Senju**."

The White Demon blinked, his brow furrowing briefly - not too fast for his Sharingan to see - before he smoothed his face into the infuriating blank face he always wore during battle. Izuna seethed quietly. He knew what was behind the mask. The bastard was ready to fight already, was he?

He wouldn't let the Senju-bastard win this time.

(How many times had he already promised that?)

His eye twitched when the Liar-Senju raised his arms in a placating manner. As if the Uchiha were the ones who confronted the Senju, and not the other way around.

**_More lies._ **

Izuna took a shuddering breath.

Memories of all the friends and family he watched the Liar-Senju kill. One day was little Daichi, and Genki, who died within the week. Another was Hachiro, last of his brothers, whose body would never be returned to his aunt Junko. Then there was Katsumi, who drowned in one of the White Demon's water jutsu.

When were they killed? Was it today? Was it months ago? Yesterday?

Did it matter when? Who would die today?

_Does it really matter?_

No matter how much he knew beforehand, no matter how many times he struck preemptively to take out the Senju fighters who killed his family before they could kill them **again** , another Senju always ruined it all. He would kill one and two more took their place. What would it take to save his clan? Was there any way to just end it all?

"Madara, we can still have peace!-"

Izuna blinked. Yes. There was. The three elites. They were the source of it all.

The Liar who was trying to trick and betray Madara. The Genjutsu-Senju who stabbed him in the back with a poisoned dagger - when he was allowed vengeance for Madara.

And then the Demon. Who had killed Madara, killed his family, and killed **him** almost every day of this nightmarish day.

Yes, he knew what the problem was. He only needed to strike first.

Izuna snapped, Sharingan spinning into his Mangekyou.

He scanned the Senju forces. They looked just as ready to fight as all the other days.

And he knew how those ended.

Every time they fought, the Uchiha losses were unacceptable. This day would not end like the others.

He needed to do something different. So he started with some more of the same.

Anger - he could do that.

" **Stop. Fucking. Lying.** "

And then, instead of waiting for the Senju response, he flickered across the distance, capitalizing on the Senju's surprise to throw himself into the midst of their forces.

If he died, then who cared? There was always tomorrow.

The Senju were battle-hardened and alert, but he was faster. He knew what to expect. He had fought these same Senju for months now. He knew to drop himself in between the Genjutsu-Senju, who was weak in taijutsu, and the Senju with one eye. A convenient blind spot.

There was a fraction of a moment where the White Demon's blank mask twisted into horror, and Izuna grinned. The White Demon and Liar-Senju were both turning toward him now, and he could see his rival preparing to use the teleporting jutsu.

They wouldn't be fast enough this time. He wouldn't let them kill the Uchiha off. He was going to **win**.

In the middle of his enemies, with Madara already intercepting the Liar-Senju, Izuna's Sharingan spun and **changed** \- he wouldn't let today end in defeat, even if it took sacrificing the remainder of his sight.

The White Demon paled.

Izuna murmured a single word.

"Amaterasu."

Black flames engulfed the clearing.

* * *

There were screams, Izuna noted, as the flames devoured the Senju forces. His chakra was dropping at an alarming rate, but it was worth it. The genjutsu Senju had been caught in the initial burn, and the White Demon had disappeared soon after. Izuna mourned not being able to personally kill his rival, but at least Hikaku was free to lead the rest of the Uchiha forces in forcing the Senju back. Izuna only needed to hold off the cursed trees long enough for Madara to deal the finishing blow.

He turned to burn away another branch, when he saw the White Demon. The Senju's face was near unrecognizable due to burns, and one leg was obviously broken, but he stared Izuna down nonetheless.

Then he flickered - the new Jutsu. Izuna cursed in his mind.

The most painful part of it all was how similar this was to the first time. And every other time. He could see the blade coming, but was powerless to move out of the way in time.

He tried to dodge anyway.

And then he was jerked to the side and the sound of steel on steel echoed in the clearing. His blood ran cold.

_Not again-_

His entire chest constricted as he slowly, softly, turned toward the sound.

His Amaterasu died down. He watched with wide eyes as the White Demon slid off his brother's sword, the Senju's mouth open in shock.

He slumped with a sigh.

**"Tobi!"**

Izuna was suddenly faced with the Liar-Senju's hate-filled glare. Dark eyes that promised death and ruin. Izuna was mildly amused. The one Senju who was able to mask his intentions so well had finally slipped and shown his true colors.

Madara stepped next to him, and he and Izuna glared down the Liar.

Izuna couldn't trust him - so he brushed off the words and focused on monitoring the battlefield instead. No one would ambush his brother if he could help it. Madara would live. The Liar-Senju took a step forward.

" **You**! I thought you wanted **peace**?! This isn't **peace**!" The Senju's voice softened. "This is just **death** \- Just like this world has been for the past hundred years!"

The Liar-Senju took another step forward, eyes brimming with some unknown emotion.

"I thought you wanted **change.** I thought you were like me."

More lies. He was probably trying to escape with his skin intact. The Liar-Senju took another step forward, the trees behind him looming. Darkening the clearing. The Senju's voice dwindled down to a soft whisper.

"I **thought**." The Senju choked. "That we could be **friends**."

Izuna felt Madara stiffen in place. His brother was letting mere words get to him again.

"Brother. He is lying! Just trying to get away so he can stab us in the back when he's stronger!"

Izuna took a defensive stance.

"The Uchiha and Senju would never be able to coexist! They would kill us all if given the chance!"

The Senju swallowed. He shrunk into himself - contrasting the angry forest surrounding him. He was a highly skilled actor, as Izuna had expected. The Senju's voice was somehow even softer than before. "...I'm sorry, then, that it is going to end like this."

Madara was frozen. A sitting duck for any remaining Senju. The trees around them were angling to attack them. And Madara was still **just standing** there. Like an idiot!-

"I wish-"

The trees loomed closer, and a few pulled back to strike. Madara still wasn't moving.

Izuna glared. "Amaterasu."

The Senju burned quietly, Madara still frozen in place.

* * *

Izuna patrolled the clearing with a strange taste on his mouth.

The Senju had managed to kill a few of their fighters, but the Uchiha as a whole had come out with far fewer casualties than usual. The Uchiha's most dangerous enemies were essentially eliminated now - all three of their best fighters dead. They couldn't kill or orphan anymore of his family members. Madara was safe from their mind games now. The Uchiha were safe.

It should be a cause for **celebration**.

So why was Madara so quiet? Did he still think that the Liar-Senju had wanted to be friends?

Izuna wandered the clearing, collecting bodies and loose kunai alike.

They had won. The Senju had arrived looking for easy pickings, just like last time, and Izuna had helped Madara remove the danger. The Senju had fought to kill, hadn't they? Should they be the only ones allowed to try to kill their enemies?

Izuna scowled. No. The Uchiha had the right to defend themselves from the vicious Senju.

...but.

 **Had** the Senju been vicious?

Izuna looked back on all that he had seen through the battle, and his stomach turned.

The common Senju fighters would never have stood a chance against his Amaterasu - it was more a mass-murder than a battle.

Why had the Senju just let him in close?

The White Demon, his rival, where had he **been**? He was supposed to always be there - annoying and hazardous to his health the man may have been, but he and Izuna fought each other for the same reason only Madara would ever seek out Hashirama in battle. No one could keep up with the sheer strength they threw around. The man was smart - he should have been able to intercept him with his fancy new Jutsu!

Izuna grimaced, chest constricting as he huddled in on himself. How could he accuse them of not reacting fast enough when the entire reason Izuna was in the situation was that he, himself, hadn't reacted fast enough.

He walked over to the body of the White-Demon, the sight of bloodied and burnt hair triggering a Sharingan memory. Izuna could remember seeing the back of that head during the battle. The man had crouched next to the body of the Genjutsu-Senju for a moment, hand hovering over her burns. Trying to heal, or saying goodbye, Izuna would never know.

He swallowed. Then crouched down next to the Senju's body.

"Why?" _Why did any of this happen?_

He took a shaky breath.

"Why did... Hashirama not attack? I **saw** the trees behind him. They were aiming for Madara."

He fiddled with a scorched kunai.

"Why did he wait?"

A glance down to the White Demon, sprawled on the blood-soaked ground.

"He didn't attack Madara - not when Madara was being a frozen idiot, not when I told him he was a liar, and not even... after." _After I set fire to him with Amaterasu._

"Why? Why didn't he just **move**? He could have blocked it!-" _Could have attacked, could have done something!_

_Why did the Liar-Senju keep up the charade? What did he have to gain? Was it even a charade?-_

Izuna cut his thoughts off with a broken whisper.

"Why?"

He sat down in a huddle. A glance toward Madara showed that his brother was still moving in a daze. He hadn't looked at Izuna even once since the battle.

Izuna shrunk into himself. He had only wanted to defeat the Senju before they did the same to the Uchiha, but if the Liar-Senju wasn't as much of a liar as he had thought-

"Because."

A hoarse whisper from below.

Izuna froze and looked down at the White Demon.

The man had a hand underneath him, and was staring upward calmly. He wasn't making any effort to avoid looking into Izuna's Sharingan.

"Hashirama..." The man's face twisted. "Was a naive idiot."

Izuna blinked. It sounded like something he would say about Madara.

He let his breath out, but didn't bother watching the Senju closely. Even if the Senju attacked him, Madara would have no trouble disposing of the lone Senju.

Izuna huffed to himself.

"It seems that we have more in common than I first thought, Senju."

"...Yours is still alive."

"But no longer naive."

The Senju was silent for a moment, but eventually decided on glaring.

"Naivete and life are not equal losses."

Izuna felt his lips curl into a self-deprecating smirk.

"And yet here we are, both saying that our brothers were rather similar once."

"I never agreed with you."

"No. **I** was the one who agreed with **you**."

Izuna felt the Senju shift minutely, stiffening.

"...Why are you so talkative now? Is it because you feel you have won?"

"We defeated you." _But I can't say that we won._

"Murdered during peace talks."

Izuna scoffed. "Peace talks between two large groups of warriors? I felt that I, at least, was rather clear on my intent to kill you all first."

"Hashirama had no intention of killing any of the Uchiha."

"And he is one person. What about you?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"You are currently lying prone in the middle of an Uchiha war band. There isn't much you **can** do."

"I would gladly kill you, Uchiha."

"Then do it, Senju."

The White Demon didn't have a response, so Izuna pulled out a whetstone to pass the time. He didn't have the heart to kill the Senju. Not after seeing his brother's face following the Liar - _no, Hashirama's_ \- death.

Izuna could see now, that all the times that Madara held back during his fights, Hashirama had as well. In the end, the strongest Senju had just **given up**. And the time that Madara had died - the Senju had tried to give up his life that time, too. The look between the Senju brothers - that was a silent argument. Hashirama had been fully prepared for the equal trade - it was Izuna's rival that chose himself instead.

The handsigns the Demon made - they froze Hashirama. Had it been a genjutsu?

And the shout for the Genjutsu-Senju had been angry. Upset at her interference.

The Senju clan head circumvented because the White Demon refused to let his brother get himself killed in the name of peace.

_Our brothers may not be the only ones more alike than we thought._

Izuna observed the burns and blood covering his rival, and the ash pile where Hashirama had stood.

He swallowed the bile at the back of his throat.

This day was a mistake.

But though he would never be able to forget it, he could **fix** it. His kunai was sharp enough, and he knew where to aim.

"See you on the other side, Senju."

There was no response as he plunged the kunai in between his ribs. Right into his heart. His vision went hazy as he slumped, a few worried shouts echoing as he fell into the darkness of sleep.

He opened his eyes to a new day.


	6. A Problem and a Plan

Izuna made no effort to get up. Instead, he stared at the ceiling, activating and deactivating his Sharingan as he went through his memories.

What was he supposed to do?

Fight and lose, and the Uchiha clan would fall. Fight and win, and Madara would - not necessarily hate him, per se, but he would never be happy. The look in his eyes after Hashirama's death was the same look he had when burying _family_.

And Izuna couldn't even fault Madara for it.

Madara wanted peace. His acquaintance ( _friend - but how could they still be friends after everything?)_ from the river wanted peace. The Liar-Senju was not a liar.

It should have been simple, really. Both of the clan heads wanted to end the fighting.

But the list of bodies on either side was longer than anyone had been alive. How would they satisfy those who wanted vengeance? Did they just expect everyone to agree to **not** kill the murderers of their loved ones if given the chance? To say, 'Oh, yes, sorry about killing all of your kids. And your parents. And your brother and sister. ...No hard feelings, right?'

He groaned.

Why did Madara have to go and get attached to the Senju?

Why couldn't he have just agreed that the Senju clan were bad and needed to be stopped?

A memory rose up - Madara returning after the final river visit. His brother had been reserved and silent for the entire week afterward, stewing in his thoughts. He had been unnaturally still, when he was usually a whirlwind of determination. Izuna had made it a point to pester him for training until his brother wasn't caught up in what Izuna had perceived as self-loathing. Madara had made a mistake, he thought. That was all. Izuna thought that his brother's unhappiness was because he hadn't realized that his 'friend' was their mortal enemy.

Now, he knew that it was probably because Madara had betrayed his friend's ideas of peace, making them enemies. Madara's prickliness could have been because Izuna tattled on him to Father and forced him into his decision, even though Izuna didn't have a choice in the manner.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

His brother was an **idiot**.

At the time, Father had been worried enough for even the younger Izuna to notice. The sight of Tajima, clan head of the Uchiha, pale and jerky in his motions when he had always moved like a cat on the prowl, was near panic-inducing to his younger self. It had taken all of his control to not run to his brother when known child-killer Senju Butsuma arrived.

He opened his eyes to the ceiling again. He felt no remorse for telling Father. If he hadn't, and they hadn't gone to the river on that day, then Madara would have died.

Killed by Senju Butsuma because Madara's friend had a brother who was spying on him as well. Yet another similarity between him and Madara, and the Demon and the Liar.

"Izuna?"

He blinked.

_The mission reports. Right._

But why was Madara delivering them? He swept himself over to the door only to find it already opened, and Madara staring.

"Yes, Madara? Do you have the mission-"

"Are you alright?"

In the face of his brother's suspicion, Izuna's response was instant, obviously automatic, and he winced internally even as it came out. There was no way that Madara would believe him.

"Of course."

Madara frowned, narrowing his eyes.

Izuna couldn't tell him why he was lying. He was not fine - he hadn't been for a while. But it wasn't anything Madara could help with. Madara wasn't allowed to die and Izuna didn't **ever** want to see the look he had in his eyes after the Liar- after Hashirama died.

Izuna sighed again. He'd need to find another insult for the Senju.

"Izuna."

_Ah._ Madara was still there. Izuna blinked and his brother was in his face, nose to nose, Sharingan active.

Izuna quirked an eyebrow and tried to force an exasperated tone.

"What?"

"..."

Silence reigned.

With a huff, he dropped the act. His brother believed he was fine about as much as Izuna believed it himself.

"Sorry. I'm just worried. About... everything."

The war, the Senju, the clan. He didn't need to specify any further, and Madara gripped his shoulder firmly.

"Don't worry. I would die before I let anything happen to you or the clan-"

Madara floundered at Izuna's grimace. "-Not that you need the protection! I was just - I wanted to say-"

His brother was waving his free hand like a lost chick and Izuna couldn't help but let out a sad chuckle. Madara had misunderstood. He wasn't angry about the idea of needing help - he was dying on the inside because he already _knew_ what Madara would do to save him.

Izuna couldn't let him - Madara **needed** to live. And to do that Madara couldn't be suspicious.

He turned toward his brother with a small smile.

"We will win, brother."

He would make it so - no matter how many tries it took.

Madara's face softened and he handed over the mission reports and squad arrangement papers without further fuss. After a moment more of watching Izuna shuffle through them, he smirked.

"Better speed up then, or I'll send Kagami on a secret mission to get you moving."

Izuna waved a hand dismissively.

"I dare you to - you'll have to hide from aunt Toriko and her cane for at least a week for disturbing her morning peace."

Madara's smirk grew.

"Not if I tell her it was _your_ fault."

He left in a whirlwind, leaving Izuna alone with the mission scrolls and his thoughts.

He sat quietly.

_And now, for the next problem. How many to send to the battlefield?_

* * *

Even if the Liar-Senju wanted peace, Izuna refused to send a small group - they would be overwhelmed in any sort of negotiations, let alone combat. It was safer to err on the side of caution, but they had never had the advantage of numbers on their side. The Senju always managed to send just a few more fighters than the Uchiha.

He paused, and then glanced out the window to observe the Uchiha morning routines. Routines like those were the same over time, but the mission rosters and destinations were not. How did the Senju know how many fighters to send, and where?

It couldn't be a spy unless instantaneous communication was possible. Maybe one of the Senju had summons?

Izuna frowned to himself. Summons couldn't explain how decisions he had made while in the middle of missions were predicted and countered.

And always with the Demon at the front.

He paused, then reviewed all his past encounters with the Senju.

The Demon was always there to fight, and if Madara was there, Hashirama was too. Hikaku always faced the Genjutsu-Senju.

Izuna's eyes narrowed.

The Genjutsu didn't work on the Demon. Or, it had, but not correctly.

The Demon regularly blocked strikes he couldn't have possibly seen.

Izuna had chalked it up to the most obscene luck he'd ever witnessed. Fate leading stars to align, but always in the Senju's favor.

Every village the Uchiha civilian traders went to that had a Senju squad simply 'visiting.' There were battles that the Uchiha nearly won, but were forced to retreat from because the fighters just 'happened' to stumble upon a Hatake patrol. Or Hyuuga, or any other clan that may not be on _friendly_ terms with the Senju, but were definitely **enemies** of the Uchiha (Why couldn't they ever run into the neutral Aburame, Nara, Akimichi, or Yamanaka?)

If it was once or twice, it could be a coincidence, but nearly every mission now ended in an altercation with either the Senju or Senju allies.

It was unnatural.

He glared at the blurry papers.

So the Senju had some way of keeping track of Uchiha movement. Which meant they had to have known the times when the Uchiha clan compound was dangerously empty, and they hadn't moved in to take advantage. Was it more evidence that the Senju were aiming for peace?

He was still skeptical. It contradicted with the steady number of Uchiha killed by Senju. How could the Tree-Bastard think that words unbacked by actions could bring peace?

Izuna sighed and arranged the team assignments for the day. He needed answers, and he had a way to get them.

If the Senju were aware of how many people were in a patrol, and where, what would happen if there was only one Uchiha in the border patrol? How many Senju would be sent? How would they act? More peace declarations, or an ambush? Izuna was dangerous, but he would be alone.

They might get overconfident and give information away - not that he was expecting that level of luck for him, but it would be nice if it happened.

None of his clansmen would be in danger, and if he died, it would just reset the Day.

There was no real danger, only the possibility of more information.

Izuna signed off on the orders. He sent off Madara's squad first, before shuffling around to give the rest their orders. Each patrol assumed he was going with the other, and if he was lucky, they wouldn't question anything until they arrived at the same village. A bit overkill for a bandit problem, but it would be taken care of quickly. Madara's squad was also rather extreme overkill for the trading caravan the Uchiha were hired to guard.

Izuna took a deep breath.

Madara would be furious if he found out.

With a slow exhale, he slipped out the far side of the compound and struck out for the Senju-Uchiha border.

What Madara didn't know couldn't hurt him.


	7. A 'Polite' Conversation

Izuna took a slow breath as he dashed through the trees.

It was peaceful, almost, watching birds flit past in his peripheral vision. The trees rustled naturally, their leaves swaying loosely and freely in all the ways that the Tree-Senju's creations didn't. The forest was calm and the air was heavy with dew and fog that would be burned off by midday.

Midday was when the Senju and Uchiha patrols always met. Or, had always met. He took another breath of cool morning air.

In Sharingan memories, he could see his clansmen running beside him. But it would just be him today.

He had questions.

How did the Senju know Uchiha movements? Was there a spy? Why did Hashirama kill so many if he wanted peace?

If he wanted peace so badly, then why did he continue to fight with the Uchiha?

Who was Itama?

Izuna winced. That was probably a question best left unanswered if the Bastard-Senju's reaction to the Genjutsu was any indicator.

He ran on, shaded memories of past days chasing his heels.

* * *

The sun was starting to lower in the sky by the time he ran into the Senju.

It was in the wooded northernmost edge of the Senju-Uchiha border. Dense foliage would have completely obscured the Bastard-Senju if the man hadn't stepped into the open. Izuna slowed to a stop, ready to defend if needed. He glared. After passing the cursed clearing around midday, he had thought that the rest of the patrol would go smoothly. Apparently, the Senju just decided to intercept him somewhere else this day.

Izuna frowned. The wooded area was better than The Clearing, but only just. He kept still and waited for the Bastard-Senju to make the first move.

"Uchiha."

A nod. "Senju."

The Senju's eyes narrowed. _Suspicious_. "Care to explain what you are doing here?"

Izuna glanced around the trees, Sharingan active, but there was no genjutsu to unravel. No one hiding in the branches and roots. The Bastard-Senju was alone. Probably.

"Where's the rest of you?"

The Senju blinked, frowning, but made no move to advance or retreat.

"I am the only one patrolling this border today."

"Does Hashirama know you are here all alone?"

Red eyes narrowed.

"Does Madara know you are alone?"

Izuna kept his face still. He rechecked the perimeter, but couldn't find any other Senju. Only trees and bushes and rocks. But... If only the Bastard-Senju came, and only the Bastard-Senju knew about this... Izuna huffed out an amused breath. He ignored the question.

"...So you're the one who can track all our movements. Figures."

The Senju stiffened slightly.

"Yet again, Uchiha. Why are you here."

Izuna didn't answer.

"Why are **you** here, Senju?"

A brief moment of silence, where the Senju glared at him as best he could without making eye contact.

"Patrolling."

Anyone that hadn't faced the man for the past ten years would have called the response dull and emotionless, but Izuna knew better. The Senju's voice was level - carefully controlled. He was trying to hide his real feelings under the mask. And if Izuna hadn't spent the past month or so specifically observing the man's reactions to various attacks, genjutsu, and deaths, he wouldn't know that the downward twitches of the Senju's mouth were the aborted beginnings of his confused frown. _Good._ If the Bastard-Senju was confused, then he was less likely to attack. Izuna still had more questions, after all.

Izuna raised an eyebrow. Patrolling alone is an excuse a child might come up with. Had his Rival hit his head this morning? He was supposed to be smart.

"Alone?"

"Hashirama trusts me to perform adequately."

Izuna scoffed. The Tree-Senju just let his little brother go off on his own? Without asking why or where? Or had the Bastard-Senju also tricked his brother? Madara would kill any Uchiha that tried to visit a hostile border alone. And then sit on them for good measure. While flailing and screeching and shouting in general about how _dangerous_ it was, and what could have _happened_ if he hadn't _found_ them and bundled them _back_ to the compound where it was _safe_.

Izuna held back a shudder. What Madara didn't know couldn't hurt him.

"Madara doesn't know you are here."

Izuna rolled his eyes, unimpressed. Seriously, had his Rival misplaced his brain?

"And Hashirama doesn't know you're here. I thought we already established that."

The Senju frowned.

"Why are you here?"

There were still no signs of other Senju around them.

"Why do you think?"

Red eyes flared, and Izuna withheld his smirk.

"If you have nothing to say, Uchiha, then please move along."

Izuna sighed. It wouldn't hurt to give the man his reasons so that the Senju didn't assume something unsavory.

"No. I have questions, Senju, and you haven't answered all of them yet."

The Senju's eyes narrowed, taking on the coolness of his battle-mask.

"You will not catch me in a genjutsu, Uchiha."

Izuna chuckled. "Wasn't planning to, Senju. If it helps, I think your brother has as much interest in my questions as I do."

The Senju's glare was approaching the temperature of ice. His reply was carefully even.

"How so?"

A smirk. "You'll have to answer them and find out."

There was a pause. Narrowed eyes and suspicion. "I will not do this for free."

Izuna relaxed into the tree he was standing in. The Senju wasn't refusing on principle - what were _his_ opinions on the idea of peace?

"Then we take turns answering questions. That seems fair."

The Senju nodded slowly but didn't move from his place across the border. He remained stiff - Izuna had the first question. It tasted like ash.

"Does Hashirama truly want peace?"

"Yes."

An immediate response, but the Senju's eyes were wide and his mouth was pressed in a thin line - restrained surprise. Before the shocked silence could continue, Izuna pushed further. Memories of ash and blood on his tongue, and a bitter smile. His voice was flat.

"Why."

The Senju frowned but didn't comment on the extra question. The look under his mask was one of determination. "To end the wars."

Izuna sneered. "That's the definition of peace, not a reason."

Red eyes narrowed. "Peace would protect his family and friends."

Still not an answer but not a lie. A hidden half-truth. Izuna kept his voice level. "The Uchiha aren't in that category, then, are they. ...Just Madara."

The Senju blinked. "No. Hashirama wants to make peace with Madara for the sake of both our clans."

"And do the Senju support him?"

"Yes."

"Do you support him?"

" **Yes.** "

Izuna's eyes narrowed. He kept his voice calm (almost pleasant really - as if he were discussing the weather).

"...Then why does he order attacks on Uchiha noncombatants?"

There was a moment of silence.

A blink and slightly widened eyes. "Noncombatants?"

Izuna frowned. "You can't tell me that every adult in your clan has ninja training."

An offended scoff. "Of course not."

"Yes, the Senju medics and their herbal remedies and healing salves... You don't see Madara specifically targeting your trading parties whenever **they** leave for Hatake or Sarutobi territory, do you?"

The Senju's eyes sharpened. "Is this an accusation?"

"Your brother shouts about peace, but I can't see him as being in control of your clan whenever I hear reports of Uchiha trading parties intercepted and murdered by Senju patrols."

"I assure you, the Senju haven't targeted civilians since the death of my father."

Izuna's eyes spun faster. His voice stayed calm. "And yet many of the civilians, when we recovered their bodies, apparently drowned to death. On dry land."

The Senju glared, but Izuna could see the slightly widened eyes. The Senju was confused. "I have only fought back against Uchiha patrols prepared for battle-"

Izuna's breath hitched. Did he not know? Did anyone on the Senju side know what the Uchiha traded to their allies?

Izuna fought the urge to chuckle at the absurdity of the Senju's blindness.

He sighed instead.

"What do you know about Uchiha trades, Senju? I've already pointed out Senju healing practices."

The Senju stayed quiet.

"Our trades are weapons and metalwork."

"But their chakra-"

 _Chakra?_ Izuna blinked. _Oh._ The Bastard-Senju could sense chakra. It wasn't all Hatake senses. He was a sensor type - a powerful one, most likely. A puzzle piece fell into place. Izuna plowed forward as if he hadn't learned a vital piece of information about his Rival.

"Metalworking takes expertise and the ability to manage flames. Do you expect expert smiths to not use fire chakra? If smithing ninja tools was simple, anyone could do it."

The Senju glared.

"Even if we knew they were civilians, allowing weapons to go to Senju enemies would be a foolish tactical decision."

Izuna scoffed. "So Madara is an idiot to have let your healing supplies go to Uchiha enemies. I'll make sure to tell him. Maybe he'll listen this time."

"It is different-"

His eyes narrowed. He cut the Senju off. " **Is it**? It's a tactical advantage we are letting go to enemies."

"The Senju only provide simple remedies, it is not the same as weapons."

Izuna fumed. Kagami's father had wasted away before he could say goodbye for lack of those 'simple remedies.' ... _But._ It was another puzzle piece. Things were starting to make a terrifying amount of sense.

"Simple remedies?! I think you overestimate the amount of healing knowledge that the Uchiha have."

Silence. A confirmation.

Izuna snarled at the suspiciously still Senju. He paced on his side of the river.

"I understand now. Your brother truly _is_ an idiot, but he comes by it honestly. Idiocy appears to run in the family."

The Senju still hadn't made a move to speak.

"Should I assume that Senju healing practices are able to heal gut wounds and internal bleeding, as well as infection and blood poisoning?"

"...Yes."

"And no one ever noticed why none of the fighters who are hit by your brother's attacks ever show up on the battlefield again? Heh. You may want to tell him that he's currently responsible for more deaths among the Uchiha than all the other clans combined. He even has a little line of orphaned children out for his head."

Izuna gave a bitter chuckle.

"We took to just ending his victims' suffering early, because watching your cousins and siblings and children die over the course of weeks, unable to help in any way, is bad for morale."

The Senju was wide-eyed and still as Izuna raged.

"We- we had no idea."

Izuna stilled, then stared. He took a deep breath.

"I'm not sure which I prefer, Senju. Either you're both dangerously good at lying, or the Uchiha have lost over a quarter of their fighters to complete fools."

There was a moment of quiet, the only noises being rustling leaves and bird chatter.

"Is there anyone currently injured?"

The request was tentative.

"Why would I tell you, Senju?"

Izuna scoffed.

"What were your brother's plans for attaining peace, anyway? Fight a war of attrition until we have no choice but to accept the Senju terms, whatever they may be?"

The silence was deafening.

"Figures. That doesn't sound like peace - it sounds like you're waiting for surrender. Needless to say, the Uchiha will not be **bullied** into **anything**."

"That is not what we want. Is there any way to have peace talks? Hashirama-"

Izuna chuckled. "That would be a terrible idea - there's only one Uchiha who wouldn't love to get their vengeance on him, and that's only because my brother is a naive idiot."

He sneered.

"No. Even _you_ would be a better choice for the talks. Amongst the Uchiha, you're known for being rather bloodthirsty, but you at least give clean deaths. There are only a half-dozen or so kids who want you dead."

"Children?"

"The majority of our traders are dead, and our weaponsmiths are nearly wiped out. Some still have living families."

The Senju almost looked - dare he say it - lost. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. "So there is no way for peace unless all those who wish for vengeance either succeed or die?"

Izuna grimaced.

"Not necessarily. Madara, bleeding heart that he is, would probably order a halt of all revenge plans against the Senju if we made peace. Whether it would work or not would then depend on Senju ability to either stay out of the way, or whether we can justify betraying the memories of our precious people."

Another moment of quiet.

"Are you one of those who wish for vengeance?"

Izuna stared at the Senju. "Yes."

The Senju made no move to speak. Izuna took a calming breath.

"I hate anyone who endangers my clan, but anyone who tries to hurt Madara will **die**."

"So your issue is with Hashirama."

Izuna grinned bitterly.

He leaned toward the Senju, who had dropped all pretense of keeping his emotions hidden and was wincing with every one of Izuna's words. "That is the issue, isn't it? The idea that your brother wants peace and is actively trying to not kill my clansmen, including my brother, doesn't change the fact that he is **miserably** bad at it."

The Senju opened his mouth to speak but froze instead.

His eyes were wide, his mouth twisting into a grimace.

Izuna stiffened and reached for a kunai. What was going on?

Then the Tree-Bastard jumped in between them both.

* * *

Four things happened at once.

The Tree-Senju turned to stare at Izuna, a guarded frown on his face.

The trees in the clearing loomed higher, angling themselves into threatening positions.

The Bastard-Senju cursed and lunged at the Tree-Senju from behind (wasn't that interesting - that he could tell that his Rival wasn't aiming for _him_ ).

And Izuna, seeing his path to escape closing as leafy branches thickened and writhed closer, flickered backward and _ran_. He ignored the shouted - partially strangled - cry from the Tree-Senju, and started dodging trees.

He didn't get far before a branch slammed into his side (Why, again, had he been happier to meet the Senju in the wooded area of the border rather than the clearing?).

The branch that hit him was wider than a barrel and oozing with the Tree-Senju's chakra. There was only a fraction of a second for Izuna to register that some of his ribs were breaking (or already broken - he knew the feeling well), that he wasn't going to be able to dodge the massive tree branch that was nearly at his face, and that he wouldn't be surviving the next second.

At least Madara would never find out.

Then his vision went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the comments on chapter seven got a little out of hand, as I recently noticed. 
> 
> I won’t delete a comment for having a different opinion to mine in regards to canon or where I take this story, but I will delete comments that insult people (including myself) and their work. The important thing to remember is that fanfiction is, by nature, not canon. If there is something different that you don’t like, simply stop reading – there’s no need to insult anyone (including the poor characters). I’ve had plenty of stories that I started but realized that where it was going was not my piece of pie, so I moved on. You can do the same if you feel like it - I’m not trapping you here.
> 
> The big disagreement started with a single comment, so I deleted that one (including the threaded comments below it), as well as any other similar threads that were carrying on the original argument. My reasoning is that I don’t want new readers walking into a metaphorical firefight when they look through the comments. 
> 
> And, as stated earlier, there is no need to repeatedly insult the characters. It’s kind of like insulting my writing when you do it so often and in the comments section of my fic. Insult them on your own time if you must. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this public service announcement, and I apologize for taking down your comments.
> 
> Edit: Just for laughs, I love that this happened on the chapter titled "A 'Polite' Conversation." 
> 
> Thank you all for reading, and I hope you stay safe in the coming Holidays!


	8. Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, had to repost because chapters published from drafts apparently get posted on the date the draft was made, and not the date the chapter is published.
> 
> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

When he woke up to a blurry brown ceiling, Izuna twitched.

He felt ice run down his back when he couldn't activate his Sharingan.

(Where was he? Where?-)

There was a blurry seal on his stomach and blurry leaves near his head. His chest was bandaged. He could only see out of one eye. 

(Senju.)

His mouth ran dry. No weapons and no chakra - he was in no shape for a fight.

Izuna shuddered as his breathing sped up.

It felt like someone had drop-kicked him off a cliff. He felt around his head - the entire left side of his face was covered. More bandages; and he couldn't feel beneath them.

He couldn't feel his fingers, either.

He flinched. What were they covering up? Was something missing? He swallowed roughly. The Senju weren't bloodline thieves. They never had been, even with Butsuma in charge. They had never seen his Mangekyo - they couldn't know about it. The Senju aren't bloodline thieves. They wouldn't dare.

(Would they?)

He took quick breaths, forcing numb fingers to tear and pull away at the wrappings around his head.

They didn't budge.

His breaths came faster, aggravating his ribs to the point where breathing felt like being stabbed. His chest was on fire and he couldn't get the bandages around his eye off. He couldn't use chakra and he needed to see.

(His eye was still there. It had to be there.)

He clawed at the wrappings but his fingers still weren't working. Shaking. Shaking. Why wouldn't they stop shaking?!

A tapping sound in front of him somewhere. He couldn't see what it was.

Deep breaths only made pain force them shallower again.

The tapping grew louder.

The bandages were stuck on his ears - why were they stuck on his ears? He didn't need those. He needed out and he needed the wrappings off because all he could see was a dimensionless brown blur. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see where he was. There was no depth and there was no detail and his fingers were not working.

He couldn't _see_.

There was the sound of a door slamming open and he swiveled in place, glaring at the intruder.

(Who was it?)

All he could see was the Senju blue. Blue... And the area of pale grey that had to be hair or a hat.

The Bastard-Senju.

He froze, glaring, as the Bastard-Senju moved lower to the ground - or maybe it was closer?

Izuna wasn't going to back up. But he needed to get more room between them. He couldn't show weakness. But he needed to fucking see. He felt lightheaded and nothing was even remotely okay about this situation.

A calm voice. Low. "Breathe. You are recovering from a head injury and broken ribs, please do not remove the bandages."

There was a moment of tense stillness. Izuna almost held his breath out of spite. Almost.

"Your eyes are untouched."

The Senju sounded honest. Izuna found himself taking slower, moderately painful breaths. He needed to remain calm.

But he couldn't see what the Bastard-Senju was doing.

(Why was he here?)

"Uchiha."

Izuna uncurled slightly - when had he hunched over? He couldn't remember.

Then it hit him. It was a new day.

He was not in the Uchiha clan compound.

Why?

Why was he here and not in his room and fuck Fuck FUCK - Madara. Madara didn't know where he was.

(Madara wouldn't blame himself, would he?)

Izuna felt his stomach lurch. He swallowed back bile.

(The answer was yes. Madara would blame himself for Izuna's stupidity.)

"Uchiha."

(He didn't want to think about what it meant that the long string of Days had been broken. Breathing hurt enough already.)

"Are you listening?"

Izuna had to find a way out, and he had to get back to the compound. Before Madara got back. He took a choked breath. Was he going to make it back?

(Nothing made sense and the Day was over.)

There was a shift in front of him - the Bastard moving closer. "Uchiha."

Izuna hissed at the movement. Right. The Bastard-Senju was still there. He needed to keep an eye on him. Izuna would not be a hostage. He'd prefer to die and go back to the Day. Go back to dying.

"You are not a hostage."

What did the Senju mean? How could he not be a hostage? He was trapped and he couldn't see and his chest was burning!-

(If he died, would the Day restart?)

Izuna took shaky breaths and hated that he couldn't figure out how to stop. It was hard to get enough air and the Bastard was just standing there!-

(What if the Day never restarted?)

"Please relax. Hashirama will let Madara know where you are as soon as possible."

The Senju was saying things - but he wasn't making sense. Why would the Senju brothers try to let Madara know? Did they have a death wish? Was it a trap?!

(Was the Bastard-Senju getting closer? Or was it just his imagination?)

"Breathe, Uchiha."

Izuna hissed. Like he wasn't already trying to fucking breathe.

* * *

It took longer than Izuna cared to say before he was calm and ready to talk to the Bastard. But when his throat no longer felt like it was filled with ash, he wrapped up all the dignity he had left and glared.

"Why am I here?"

The Senju blur did not move. He hadn't moved for a while.

"None of your clansmen were nearby, and you were in need of a healer."

Izuna narrowed his eyes. "Explain."

"You suffered four broken ribs, three cracked ribs, a brain hemorrhage, and severe bruising."

It was a report. Stoic and emotionless. Like the Bastard was telling him about patrols rather than the fact that he should be dead. Hashirama's attack should have killed him. Izuna kept quiet.

"Your ribs are bound and will have to heal naturally, and I drained the blood in your skull as best I could, but I will need to check in on the current state of your health soon."

Izuna sneered, all bluster and carefully hidden unease. "What, you need to see if I'm still sane?"

"Yes. Among other things."

He glared in the Senju's general direction.

"Why should I trust you?"

"There isn't much else you can do, Uchiha."

Izuna's breath hitched. He blinked through memories of dead dreams and failure and talking to a ghost who still breathed. _"You are currently lying prone in the middle of an Uchiha war band. There isn't much you can do."_

("It seems that we have more in common than I first thought, Senju.")

He chuckled.

(The Senju was carefully still.)

What could Izuna do? Try to stab the bastard?

Because that always went so well.

But what would happen if he trusted the Senju? How similar were they, really? Would Izuna trust himself to behave if he had the Bastard-Senju as thoroughly trapped as he was now?

No. Not after Madara died. Not before he killed them all with Amaterasu.

...But what if none of that had ever happened?

What if he didn't know that the Bastard-Senju could (would?) be guilty of so many deaths? What if he hadn't had to watch all the ways the Senju knew how to kill?

(What if the Bastard-Senju knew all the times Izuna had killed his clansmen over the Day? What would happen then?)

Would Izuna trust the man's words?

He swallowed back a grimace.

He didn't know.

It wasn't the way things had happened, and thinking of a different past was pointless. Izuna had watched the Bastard kill his family, but he had also killed the Bastard's family (memories of the Genjutsu Senju, lying still).

They were trapped, the both of them: both were too pragmatic and protective of their clans to dream, despite the pain of each new death. Both were too determined to keep their families alive to be able to show weakness and just talk.

(To give the other a chance to betray.)

Would the Senju betray him? Did he hate the Uchiha? Was he truly as cold and unfeeling as everyone said?

(No. Izuna could still see the look of horror on the Bastard's face after Madara took his blow. The hopeless and helpless sense of loss in his voice after the Tree-Senju gave up. The little twitches of frustration whenever Izuna dodged around his Jutsu. The sparks of determination whenever he fought Izuna and they were evenly matched, blow for blow.)

Izuna had grown up fighting the Bastard-Senju, and the Bastard-Senju had grown up fighting Izuna. Their fathers hated each other. Their clans hated each other.

Their paths should have been obvious.

(But then - the friendship at the river. A quiet conversation in the trees. The Senju's horror when he realized Hashirama was accidentally killing Izuna's clansmen. The dull tone when he heard about the Uchiha need for vengeance.)

The Bastard's responses about Hashirama's desire for peace. The lie that wasn't a lie.

_"Peace would protect his family and friends."_

Were those the Bastard's reasons for peace?

Protection? Not victory?

Izuna brought his attention back to the Senju, who appeared to be crouched nearby with no intention of moving closer.

He swallowed.

Did he trust the Bastard?

Right now? No.

But could he see himself trusting him eventually? If the Bastard worked at it and stopped killing people?

(If Izuna knew who the Senju was under the mask?)

Maybe.

Izuna let out his breath.

It would have to be enough.

He leaned back and forced himself to relax, glaring at the tree-bark wall. An opening and a concession. His fists were stiff at his side as the Senju shuffled closer, but he kept himself as carefully relaxed as possible.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the Bastard activated his healing Jutsu.

(The green glow was cool, but warmer than the ice-water chill Izuna had expected.)


	9. An Unwilling Guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

Time passed slowly, in increments of silence and tense healing.

Having sealed chakra made it feel as if he was extremely chakra exhausted, except he was lucid enough to fully register how **empty** he felt. There was no hum of lightning or warm fire just below his skin. No jutsu to defend himself with. The Sharingan, his greatest strength, was made worse than useless - blind and weak.

Izuna took a steadying breath.

He had long-since passed from twitching at every rustle of the nearby trees to glaring at the blurry ceiling. Cursing his situation as a whole.

He and the Bastard-Senju were stuck in a room together.

Their older brothers were friends (the word still tasted sour and he was only _thinking_ it) and they wanted to have peace. But to have peace they needed trust. And while their older brothers were plenty (almost idiotically at times) trusting, he and the Bastard were different.

They were the reasonable ones. Neither of them believed in undying friendship and peace solely for the sake of peace. They couldn't afford to make mistakes when it concerned the safety of their respective clans. They had duties to their clansmen.

And, if the Bastard was telling the truth, they could both add 'promote peace' to those long lists of responsibilities.

Izuna wanted to believe that peace could work. That the Uchiha could meet with the Senju and _trust_ and _be_ trusted in return. For Madara's sake, if nothing else, he wished that that was the way the world worked. It would be a neat tying up of both the dangers of fighting in a war against the Senju, as well as the friendship Madara had mourned for when they were younger.

But reality was cruel.

Izuna knew this.

Even if Madara and the Idiot-Senju could talk it out and agree on peace, and even if the clans could resist the drive for vengeance, the Uchiha would never see this situation as valid diplomacy. Only a hostage deal. It wouldn't matter how polite the Senju were, or how accommodating his rival was, peace would never be an option if the Uchiha elders thought that he was being used as a bargaining chip.

Izuna grimaced.

With the Idiot sending a message to Madara, according to the Bastard, his entire clan would know by the end of the day that he had been captured. And a captured Uchiha was hardly going to be seen as a respected visitor in Senju lands. The elders would try to find reasons for why he hadn't been returned in pieces. They would assume it was for the 'peace' talks. For leverage.

He took a deep breath.

What were the Bastard and the Idiot thinking? What was their plan? Make the peace deal and then make sure the Uchiha could never back out, either through indoctrination or further favors? Izuna would not watch idly if his clan was made a prisoner to the whims of the Senju.

But what if this was just another of the idiot's mistakes?

(And what if it wasn't a mistake?)

Izuna moved his glare down from the ceiling. Down toward the grey blob that had to be the Bastard's head. He felt the weight of the Senju's stare shift onto him.

(He needed to _know_.)

"This isn't going to work, Senju."

There was no response.

"No matter how you spin this to the elders, regardless of whether or not they accept, they will hate you for this."

"I do not care how others feel about me."

The Bastard sounded offended. Offended and tired. Why would he be offended? Izuna narrowed his eyes.

"Too bad. The elders have influence - influence that can turn the rest of the clan against you. And that hatred will extend to all the Senju. Anything you or your family suggest will be refused if only because it _could_ be your idea, and you cannot be trusted to protect Uchiha interests."

"...Peace means being on the same side. Therefore peace involves respecting **everyone's** interests, not just **Uchiha** interests."

"It doesn't mean forcing Senju interests on everyone and calling it 'everyone's' interests, either."

There was a pause.

"Is peace not an Uchiha interest?"

Izuna sneered.

"We have pride, Senju, and we aren't idiots. I've already told you - forcing a surrender is not peace."

"We are not asking for surrender-"

"It doesn't matter what you call it. It would be a deal made while the Uchiha heir was held captive. That sounds quite a bit like a hostage situation and a forced deal, if you ask me."

"You are **not** a hostage."

"Am I allowed to leave now, then?"

"We are inside Senju territory, and your ribs are not fully healed. You must stay inside until your brother-"

"So I'm a prisoner here."

"No. You are here because it is safe."

He twitched.

"Is it? That's a nice-sounding reason, but who can tell if it's a truth or lie? If I'm not a hostage, how do you explain the chakra seals?"

"Surely you do not think that I would let an Uchiha remain on Senju lands without any precautions?"

"No, but my so-called 'guest-hood' is feeling rather like captivity."

A long silence passed.

"...Would you like some rations or water?"

Izuna snarled. Would a drink or some food change the fact that he was trapped here?! Did the Bastard think handing out little pointless niceties would help?!

"I want my fucking chakra back, Bastard."

There was a sigh from the grey blob.

"I cannot allow that."

Izuna gave one last glare. Then he turned back to the ceiling.

He kept his tone light and mocking, but it still ended in a hiss.

"Then I cannot **allow** myself to trust you."

* * *

Time passed.

It was quiet, but not a peaceful quiet. It was unnaturally still.

There was no room to relax. Only sit and observe and try to ignore the emptiness where his chakra should have been. He kept his eyes closed and posture loose in a semblance of calm relaxation. He held no illusions of it fooling anyone, but it was the principle of the thing that mattered.

Every once in a while he heard a shift from the direction of the Senju.

_Strange - the Senju really should be able to move more quietly than that._

Then there was an exhale. Soft. Resigned, almost. And then the Senju was moving closer, the footsteps noticeably louder than his earlier shuffling.

_Deliberate._

Izuna refused to acknowledge him. If he was going to be a captive, he wouldn't show any weakness or let himself be intimidated.

The footsteps drew closer. They were uneven and he didn't know if it was on purpose or not.

Izuna kept his breathing steady. He would not react. Even if the Senju decided to stand over him like a vulture for the rest of the day, he **would not** react.

The footsteps stopped at his feet, and he forced himself to stay relaxed, leaning on the wall as a brush of air swept past his face.

"Uchiha."

Izuna almost ignored him. They had reached an impasse, what was there left to say?

Instead, he opened his eyes and stared. The Senju was slightly less blurry up close, but all that meant was that he could separate the man's hair from the white fur he always wore.

He sneered.

_Useless._

The Senju's voice had been fully emotionless, and without his vision, Izuna had no idea what he was missing in the man's expression right now. It could be hatred for a brother's dream destroyed. It could be the regret of realizing something as an impossibility. The fear of Madara - because eventually, Madara **would** come, and his brother was not the Uchiha clan head for nothing. The Bastard's face could be showing **anything**. And he couldn't see the Bastard to know what was going on.

Izuna took a slow breath. Then let it out. He kept his voice cool.

"Senju."

Another shuffle, but the Senju didn't move any closer.

"If you would allow me..."

Izuna blinked. What now? He already let the Bastard use his medical jutsu on him. What was the Senju's angle? They had already realized that neither would trust the other? So what-

"I will remove the chakra seals now."

Izuna stiffened.

_What._

He looked closer at the Senju, trying to see if there was anything, anything at all, that seemed false about the offer.

There was nothing.

But there wasn't anything to indicate the Senju's trustworthiness either. He had walked far closer than what would be considered polite among allies, let alone for a member of a rival clan.

But he could see the Senju slightly better up close, and didn't getting close to another ninja have the side effect of opening yourself up to attack?

(The Senju had removed his advantage of ranged attack and observation.)

_Probably because the Bastard can't operate seals unless touching them._

Frozen in place, Izuna blinked. Then, slowly, he nodded.

He kept quiet as the Senju moved the small distance between them and started messing with the seal. His ribs occasionally twinged when the Senju poked the seal harder than he would have thought necessary, but he stayed still. He wasn't a sealing expert, and he wasn't going to do anything to mess up their newest peace-related development.

(Or the imminent return of his chakra.)

* * *

While Izuna had no idea how to piece together a seal, let alone take one apart safely, it was easy to tell when it finally unraveled.

(The number of layers the Bastard thought he needed for his chakra seal was rather flattering.)

There was a rush of warmth, and with a twist of chakra, his vision was as sharp as it had ever been. He took in the details of the room within seconds.

The walls were all wooden and likely Mokuton-grown. A desk in the corner, with high piles of scrolls. There was a rough mat on the floor where he had woken up, but the mat was too worn to have not been in use before today. Small windows for natural light with seals glowing faintly around their edges.

He shifted his attention to the Senju, then frowned.

The Bastard looked **terrible**.

His Sharingan immediately narrowed in on the major points.

Dull eyes, eye bags that almost looked like bruises, and sickly pale skin. Slightly unfocused eyes and shaking hands (his Rival could try to smother the shaking all he wanted, Izuna had his Sharingan back and he was going to use it).

The Bastard was also tense. He had retreated back after the seal was undone, and hadn't moved since.

He was ready to fight, but he didn't look like he wanted to.

Izuna's eyes narrowed.

The last he had actually seen his Rival, the Senju was perfectly fine. Normal. Just as infuriatingly calm and collected as always.

Now, he looked like he had just gotten out of battle, and a long one, at that. There were all the signs of extreme chakra exhaustion, and if he looked closely - yes, the Senju's armor was mildly blood-spattered, as was the cloth underneath.

Izuna stared. The Bastard stared warily back.

"What the fuck happened to you?"


	10. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

The Senju blinked in surprise.

"Nothing."

Izuna opened his mouth. 'Nothing' didn't send the one of the strongest Senju into chakra exhaustion. But he didn't appear to be lying.

_...So what happened?_

Eyes narrowed, Izuna took in the Senju's continued tenseness. The carefully blank expression and the deceptive looseness of his arms. There were no weapons in sight, but the Senju was ready for an attack.

He said nothing happened to him in between Izuna's injury and waking up. And yet he looked like death warmed over.

Luckily for the Senju's claim, he wasn't injured - only exhausted. But there was blood on his armor. So why-

Izuna blinked.

He checked the areas of dried blood - the patterns looked like water droplet patterns. Something spilling, or dripping, rather than leaking into the fabric from behind. An earlier conversation played in his head.

( _"I drained the blood in your skull as best I could,"_ )

Frowning, Izuna moved his focus away from the rust-colored stains.

The blood was his, then.

But it still didn't explain the Senju's current state.

_...If nothing happened **to** the Senju..._

"What did **you** do, then?"

The Senju retreated behind his emotionless mask.

"I have only healed you. I have not done anything untoward."

Izuna gave an empty nod.

How could the Bastard have gotten chakra-exhaustion from healing? He had healed from Izuna's killing blow during The Day with minimal signs of chakra drain, so what was different about this time? There had to be something he was missing.

_May as well just ask plainly. It'll make it harder for the Bastard to squeeze his way out of answering._

"Let me clarify. Why are you chakra exhausted?"

...

...

"I cannot answer that."

Izuna kept his expression calm.

"No?"

The Senju was equally careful to look nonthreatening.

"We agreed on an answer for an answer, and you have asked all the questions so far."

Izuna inwardly relaxed. _So that was the issue._

"True, but your idiot of a brother almost killed me."

"I will only ask four questions, then, in return for all those you asked."

Izuna was still for a moment, considering, before he nodded.

"Ask away."

"Why did you come to the border alone."

_One. Easy Enough._

"I was on patrol."

The Senju frowned.

"Why would you go alone? Surely you weren’t expecting there to be no opposition?!"

_Two. And he sounds so **confused**._

Izuna shrugged.

"Every time any group of Uchiha go out for a mission to the border or surrounding towns, an equal or larger group of Senju is sent nearby. **Every** time. If any group was going to be outnumbered anyway, I might as well only risk my own life."

"That doesn't explain why you needed to go on patrol."

_Not a question, but it needs a response? I can't say I didn't do the same thing earlier..._

"I told you before. I had questions that I needed answered."

"Whether or not Hashirama wants peace."

A nod.

"Yes, among others."

There was a pause. The Senju turned fully towards him.

"Did you learn all that you wanted?"

_Three. He's suspicious now._

Izuna raised an eyebrow. "I'm answering questions for the sole purpose of getting another question answered. What do you think?" He shifted to a more comfortable position. "You have one more question before we're even, Senju."

This time, the Senju spent at least several minutes thinking the question out. Though whether it was because he didn't know what to ask, or because he didn't know how to ask, was a mystery. Eventually, the Senju looked up from his thoughts. His voice was grave.

"Do you believe that peace can be reached between the Uchiha and the Senju."

Izuna blinked, then shifted backward with a frown.

"I'm here talking calmly to you, aren't I?"

Izuna was committing to trying for peace, wasn't he? But what _was_ peace - a temporary ceasefire? Or lasting peace? ...Only lasting peace would make it safe for his clansmen, and it was the peace that the Senju spouted dreams about, but was it possible? Izuna had thought victory over the Senju with a happy Madara was possible, but then...

"Uchiha."

Izuna let his breath out. He didn't have any opinions about whether lasting peace was possible, wasn't it enough to try improving relations?

_("Even if it is impossible for our generation to have peace, maybe… by laying the foundation?...")_

Izuna held back a shiver.

"It doesn't matter if I think it can be reached. Madara wants peace, and I promised."

It was simple. It was true.

(Dead eyes on Madara's face. The small smile his brother wore, even in death, at the thought of Izuna accepting his wish for peace with the Senju.)

Izuna swallowed roughly. He had _promised_. It was going to happen. There was no way forward other than to at least try-

"Uchiha."

Izuna blinked back to reality, leveling the Senju with a glare.

"Is 'Uchiha' the only word you know, Senju?"

The Senju didn't rise to the bait, only sat quietly, a considering look on his face.

"You did not answer my question, earlier. I wanted to know if **you** think peace can be attained."

Izuna froze.

Was it? He didn't know.

He had decided to learn the truth of the Senju attempts at peace and found that they were genuine.

Then the Tree-Bastard, who shouted about peace every time he saw Madara, nearly killed him without any provocation on his part.

He had been healed by his Rival, an action that apparently drove the Senju to the point of chakra exhaustion (all evidence pointed to it, even though he still didn't know _why_ ).

Izuna's eyes narrowed.

The Elders wouldn't approve of any sort of deal with the Senju.

But they held onto the past, and the Uchiha should look to the future. One doesn't survive a battle by never looking where you're going.

However.

The Elders also had the power to taint the opinions of the rest of the clan. Madara was well-liked because he was strong and cared for all the clan members. The Elders were supportive right now. What would happen if they decided to oppose Madara's leadership?

Izuna took a slow breath.

It all came back to Madara.

His brother wanted peace, even if he buried it for the clan's sake. (And for his little brother - for **his** sake. Because when had he ever been open to the idea of peace? He had thought the Senju liars.)

Madara wanted peace like a starving man wanted food, but he refused to pursue it. Because of the clan and because of Izuna.

Izuna frowned.

Now, it would be different. He would support his brother. The Senju also wanted peace, as shown by their clan head's continuing and unopposed "peace" speeches whenever he saw Madara, and Izuna was willing to trust the Bastard to be reasonable.

...Which left the Uchiha side of diplomacy. Izuna already knew several of the elders would oppose peace with the Senju on principle. He would need to keep an eye on them. If they chose to try to discredit Madara, then they would just have to deal with _him_ discrediting _them_. Izuna knew the Uchiha warriors, and they would listen to him over the stuffy elders whose only interaction with the war was arguing for more attacks against the Senju, and then saying that the increased death-count was the Senju clan's fault.

Before, he had agreed with them, but now he knew better. Neither clan wanted to wipe the other out, they both wanted peace.

_A rather strange thought._

Letting out his breath, he focused on the Senju. To the man's credit, his Rival didn't drop his gaze from the Sharingan.

_Trust from a past enemy._

He hummed.

"I can't say that I think lasting peace is possible."

_Trust returned. No lies._

"It might be, it might not be."

Red eyes narrowed. Izuna continued.

"But I **will** support it."

The Senju's eyes narrowed even further as he stared at Izuna, looking for any hint of a lie. After a long moment of mutual staring, the Senju backed off. He was still studying Izuna, but more subtly, with an almost baffled look about him.

Izuna let the Senju continue his investigation. He had been honest, after all.

"So, Bastard, my turn now."

The Senju nodded.

Asking about the chakra exhaustion earlier had apparently been a step too far for the Senju, and he already had the gist of the situation, so he may as well ask something else. Something a bit more pressing now that they could relax (at least as much as two previously hostile shinobi stuck in the same room _could_ relax).

Izuna glanced over to the scroll-laden desk. Then over to the sealed windows. There was nothing around except forest.

"What is this place?"

* * *

A short while later had Izuna staring at the neatly labeled scroll piles. There were a few that looked to be more messily stowed, but Izuna wouldn't judge. Seeing as his... visit hadn't been planned, his Rival probably didn't have enough time to properly hide his more delicate experiments.

Because his Rival had a lab.

A fucking Jutsu-creation and sealing lab.

(All the aggravating times his Rival had seemingly pulled some crazy new Jutsu out of his ass made sense now.)

The scrolls on the desk held his Rival's work - new Jutsu and seals in varying states of completion. Some were worn out, some were rolled up tightly, and a few others were stuffed deep under the other scrolls. Most of the labels were hidden.

But the labels that he _could_ see were... interesting, to say the least. Izuna wouldn't open any, because the Senju was _right there_ and it would be _rude_ (he had _manners_ **,** after all), but also because there wasn't any need. The visible labels were informative enough all on their own.

Time-space sealing, summaries for the Elements of Ninjutsu, training plans, Uzumaki sealing scrolls - it would be easier to ask what _wasn't_ covered in the scrolls.

One scroll, in particular, caught his eye. It was thick, with a label reading "snowflake patterns,” of all things, and their "applications to sealing." A tiny glass jar sat next to it, partially hidden under other papers, with an equally tiny snowflake inside. Next to it all was a curved circle of glass and a partially filled out diagram of the snowflake.

It rubbed him the wrong way, for some reason.

He moved closer and compared the two and found out why.

It was surprisingly accurate, for someone who didn't have the Sharingan. But there were still mistakes. Small mistakes. Missing pieces, different line thicknesses, and slight angle changes. It was a visual dissonance that made his fingers twitch. He had seen enough cocky Uchiha fail to put enough effort into their forgeries, which led to failed missions.

It was impressive that his Rival had copied the pattern well enough for it to register as the work of an incompetent Uchiha.

He watched in his peripheral vision as the Senju grew more and more concerned.

Izuna hadn't stopped at any of the other scrolls, and now he appeared to be studying one intently.

He was really just waiting for the Senju to crack and start conversation - _he_ wasn't going to be the one to start it, so let the Senju do it instead. All he had to do was pretend that he hadn't already memorized the snowflake and wait.

* * *

The Senju eventually gave in.

"Please refrain from touching that. It is very delicate."

He made sure to politely stay in Izuna's field of vision as he walked over to the desk.

Izuna leaned closer to the jar just because he felt like it.

"How are you keeping the snowflake frozen?"

"Seals."

The Senju's voice was strained. Izuna ignored it.

"Why? And where?"

He didn't see any seals on the jar.

"Why are you asking?"

_Suspicious._

"I want to know what it is going to be used for."

"I cannot tell you that."

Izuna paused, eyes narrowing.

"Is it a combat seal?"

If it was, then he would leave it to fail.

"No."

He looked sideways at the Senju. There was annoyance on his face, as well as wariness, but no sign of the nervousness of lying. Izuna hummed and backed away from the desk. May as well give the Senju a brief break. If it wasn't for war, and peace was their goal, then shouldn't he?-

His Rival had healed him and unsealed his chakra even while he was chakra exhausted.

The Senju had let him examine his work. Sealing masters were notorious for preferring death over losing their secrets and hunting down those suspected of stealing them.

This would also help with attaining Madara's peace.

Izuna backed away and leaned into the far wall. Both he and the Senju relaxed.

He waited a moment or two before speaking.

"The diagram is wrong."

A pause.

"What."

Izuna picked at his fingernails in fake boredom. He kept his voice calm and very matter-of-fact.

"Nothing terrible, but the thickness of a few lines is off, and there are a few thin structures that you missed completely."

The Senju grabbed the diagram and looked between it and the glass jar. Then between him and the tiny snowflake.

"Your Sharingan can see the details of this snowflake."

Izuna scoffed. Now, of all times, was when the Senju finally realized the superiority of the Sharingan?

"Of course."

"You were able to mentally cross-reference both the diagram and the snowflake and find minuscule errors."

"Of course."

"Within a few moments."

"Yes."

The Senju blinked slowly.

And then he started _thinking_. Because that was the only word Izuna could come up with to describe the rapid eye movements, twitching fingers, and sizeable breaks in his Rival's mask of apathy (he was _scarily_ animated - Izuna had never seen his Rival switch between different facial expressions so quickly before).

Izuna blinked, eyes wide as the Senju started muttering under his breath. Something-something-lenses, something-neural connections, He wasn't sure he wanted to know. The Senju wasn't pacing, but the slight twitches indicated he _would_ be pacing if he didn't have company.

Izuna fought the urge to back away slowly.

His Rival’s goal of 'tolerate the Uchiha in his lab' had apparently been replaced with 'do crazy-lab-stuff and stare at the Uchiha every once in a while.'

Izuna wasn't sure the acknowledgment of the Sharingan's superiority was worth the personality change.

* * *

_ And now, for a quick side scene (not in Izuna’s POV)! _

_ You can think of it as canon to the story, or not, it's up to you. _

* * *

**Hashirama Almost Dies of Stupidity:**

"Madara! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that Tobi was just talking to Izuna and I tried to stop him from running away because he and Tobi could be _friends_ and I didn't _mean_ to scare him away but I accidentally hit him too hard with my Mokuton and Tobi had to heal him and now Tobi won't talk to me and I really _really_ wanted to let you know that Izuna is alive and okayish because Tobi is healing him and he said that they were talking about _peace_ before I came and I'm really sorry and can we be friends again please!"

There was a brief moment where the group of Uchiha processed the Senju's panicked shouting, and then the air was filled with a truly suffocating amount of killing intent. The lone Senju backed away, pale and nauseous, and even the other Uchiha were torn between fury and unease. The bandits tied up next to the Uchiha party stopped trying to get away as the majority of them fainted outright.

Madara stepped forward, his voice deadly calm.

He didn't shout. He didn't flail. He walked up to the Senju clan head and stared him in the eye.

" **What.** " He took a soft step closer. " **Did you.** " Another step. He was only a foot away. Hashirama paled. " **Just. Say?** "


	11. And Then There Were Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

It was quiet, and Izuna wasn't sure whether to be thankful or concerned.

Two hours or so had done nothing to ease the Senju's newfound energy - in Izuna’s humble opinion, frenzied writing was just as uncomfortably intense as frenzied thinking. The main difference was that he could hear the shifting of papers every once in a while, rather than the occasional shuffle of aborted pacing.

Only now, there were none of those sounds. It had been quiet for longer periods, but this most recent silence seemed different.

Izuna cautiously looked up from his meditation.

The desk was stacked with more scrolls and yet was somehow **less** cluttered than before. Piles had been shifted into neat rows, and the tiny snowflake jar had been placed in the center. The old diagram had been laid aside in favor of a new one. The Senju studied the snowflake through the rounded piece of glass, adding marks to the new diagram only after intense scrutiny.

It was barely a fraction of the way done after hours of work.

Painfully slow. Izuna clenched his teeth and endured.

He could have finished it in a few minutes.

But doing his Rival's work for him? **_No_**. That was not an option. Even if the Bastard took _weeks_.

Izuna shuddered.

(It couldn't take the Bastard more than a day or two, could it?)

His Rival was looking back and forth between the diagram and the snowflake with an increasingly frustrated frown. Hours and hours of painfully slow copying and he still hadn't finished that **one** area.

Izuna felt a chill down his back.

Then the Senju turned to him, his face set in a grimace. Izuna blinked. _Finally, the Bastard remembers I'm here_. He nodded toward the Senju’s new diagram.

It was better than the earlier one. He'd give his Rival credit for that. There were only a few tiny mistakes now - lines missed that were simply too thin to be seen by any but a fully developed Sharingan. It was good enough to pass inspection from anyone else.

"How long is that going to take you?"

_Please take the hint and stop working on it. Please take the hint-_

The Senju paused to think, let out a clipped "unknown," and then turned back to the diagram.

Izuna held back the urge to wilt into the corner.

(He is an Uchiha. Uchiha don’t wilt.)

* * *

An indeterminate amount of time later, the Senju froze in place. He set his brush down stiffly as Izuna watched from the corner. Izuna didn't need to wait long for an explanation. The Senju's face was almost ...apologetic?

Izuna shook his thoughts away and focused.

"Touka is coming."

He stopped breathing.

( _"Touka!"_ )

(A poisoned kunai burning in his back.)

(Paralyzed and bleeding out. Failure. **_Burn_** _the Senju **scum**._)

His fists clenched, but he kept still. He needed to stay calm. She didn't remember. She would **never** remember. There was no need for violence. It would be **fine**. He could tolerate the Genjutsu-Senju, right? He forced a breath, as slow as possible.

(A limp body burned nearly beyond recognition. Ash and blood all around him.)

He swallowed and pushed the memories down.

The Bastard was quiet.

Izuna took another slow breath, then let it out. He needed to promote peace. He would not try to kill the Genjutsu Senju for something she hadn't done yet. He would just... keep an eye open to be sure she could never stab him in the back. _Yes. You can't be backstabbed if you never let anyone get behind you in the first place._

He focused back on the Senju, who was staring at him strangely again. Caution and confusion. Izuna broke the silence.

"The Genjutsu Senju?"

The Senju paused.

"She will be here before the sun sets."

Izuna looked sideways out the window. The light was already cooling, and the trees swayed in the evening breeze.

It wouldn't be long, then.

"Does she support your brother's ideas?"

Another pause - this time longer.

"Yes."

In his mind's eye, he remembered. The vengeance deal that she sabotaged. All the times the Genjutsu-Senju stabbed him in the back whenever he was close to finally beating his Rival. Her subtle guarding of the one-eyed Senju. A friend of hers?

(There were also flashes of his nearing-death that he could see - Hikaku gutting the Genjutsu-Senju after her attack. She had left herself unguarded and ill-placed after her rescue of his Rival. An attack she had no intention of surviving.)

So she cared about the Bastard. Enough to die for him. He deflated with a sigh. Of course she would ignore a deal with the enemy in order to save him.

(The Bastard said she wanted peace. He'd have to at least give her a chance.)

He would wait and watch. He would **not** be the one to attack first.

Izuna let out a pained breath.

He could almost feel the kunai in his back already.

* * *

Izuna settled himself into the corner near the window. The Bastard had kept him updated on the Genjutsu-Senju's whereabouts, and he was not going to let himself be seen in the open. When his Rival nodded, he gave him a short nod back in acknowledgment. The Genjutsu-Senju was here.

"Tobi!" It was hissed. "I know you're in there!" The door shook. "What the- **Why** is the door locked?!"

Izuna looked between his Rival and the sounds of the furious Genjutsu-Senju. His Rival looked pained, but not surprised.

"Touka."

Longsuffering, tense, and cautious.

"Are you going to let me in, you idiot?!"

"I cannot."

"Can't. Or won't? There's a difference, Tobirama. You **know** I won't mess with your projects."

There was a brief moment of intense quiet.

"...You know something. Tell me. **What**. Is going. **On**."

"...It is not my decision to make."

Pained and pleading. His Rival wasn't going to throw him into the open, but it wasn't comfortable for him.

"So it's **Hashirama's** decision?! He's been gone all morning - how the fuck am I supposed to ask him?"

"Touka."

"No! Don't you 'Touka' me! What the ever-loving fuck is going on?! **Where** is Hashirama, and **why** did he feel the need to fucking disappear right before the Hatake traders were scheduled to arrive?!"

His Rival froze near the door while the Genjutsu-Senju moved on to aggressive pacing.

Izuna felt his stomach drop. He had heard similar tones before. She wasn't going to just go away. She was stubborn enough to stay until she either learned the truth or until the Senju clan called her back, at which point she would hold a grudge. She would figure it out eventually. And then she might be less inclined to trust the Tree and the Bastard. Making her less likely to trust the Uchiha. She was the third-strongest Senju - it would hurt the chances for peace if she had doubts.

He winced.

_Unacceptable._

A deep breath in. All he needed to do was let her know what was going on. It was simple.

(She might attack first and ask questions later, what would happen then?-)

He frowned.

He was the Uchiha clan heir, and second in command - he could be diplomatic! (He could work past his gut-instinct to stab her first - he was already getting along with the Bastard and it had only been one day!)

His eyes narrowed as the Genjutsu-Senju's tirade continued. He was going to do this. (It would be funny to see the Bastard's face. It would help with peace. She was going to find out anyway. It needed to be done.)

(He was also stalling - he needed to get this **over** with.) He grit his teeth and took a breath. The Genjutsu-Senju started hiss-shouting from outside. He waited for the right moment.

"You're all fucking idiots!-"

Izuna didn't let himself think about it any further. He spoke up with a lazy drawl.

"Finally, _someone_ agrees with me!"

The lab went silent.

* * *

His Rival flinched, visibly, and the sound of pacing outside the door abruptly stopped.

Then came a sickly sweet voice.

"Tobirama~"

His Rival was staring at him like he was a particularly insane child. Izuna just raised an eyebrow and stared back. Better she find out now, rather than later when the Genjutsu-Senju inevitably decided to sneak inside. (Also, it was far too late now to be reconsidering. Better to just agree that it was his plan all along and roll with it. Act natural.)

"Was that... the brat Uchiha?"

Izuna turned his attention to the door, eyes narrowed. He kept his voice cool.

"Says the woman needling the Senju second in command for information."

"...We're cousins."

Deadpan. Izuna nodded to himself. Many more things made sense now.

"Tobirama. **Why** is Uchiha Fucking Izuna in your lab?"

Izuna looked up as his Rival sighed. It was a sigh of relief and horror and pain, all bundled together.

"...It is... A long story."

Izuna waved at the door offhandedly.

"We were having a lovely conversation before his idiotic tree of a brother interrupted."

"About what? How much you hate us Senju? How you want to bathe in our blood?!"

Izuna raised an eyebrow. She was slightly hysterical-sounding there. (And also trying to pry open the door.)

"No. About your family's hereditary idiocy."

Another pause from outside the door. The prying stopped.

"I would say I'm surprised, but..."

"Touka."

" **Tobirama.** You are going to let me into your Lab, right now, or so help me I will personally move every single thing you own at the compound a few inches out of place. Nothing will be safe. Your furniture, your supplies, I don't care."

A deep breath.

"What I **do** care about right now is you explaining **everything** \- from the start. Now let me the fuck in, before I cut your door down."


	12. Trust Issues and Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!
> 
> Sorry it's a day late - I kinda lost track of time after New Years! Anyways, enjoy!

There was a pained silence as the Genjutsu-Senju stood in the doorway. It looked like she had no intention of entering any further after she had seen _two_ pairs of red eyes in the room. She made no move to look anywhere near his Sharingan after her initial glance, though her eyes never left the vicinity of his hands. She was poised to move at a moment's notice, her muscles visibly tensed.

Izuna kept his eyes on her as well. If it came to a fight, he knew well exactly who her target would be.

He was crouching with his back to the wall for a reason, after all, and the window in his peripheral vision made for a good escape plan. Amaterasu could burn through anything, so he could burn the seals and jump out if needed. (If the Genjutsu-Senju tried anything.)

For a moment, both he and the Genjutsu-Senju stood ready. Ready to fight, or flee, Izuna didn't think either of them knew exactly which option was the best. But then, the Bastard stepped between them both, facing his cousin. His back was to Izuna.

Izuna settled back a tiny amount. _Yes, let the Bastard deal with his cousin._

He kept his focus on the Senju duo, however.

(He wasn't _stupid_.)

" **Tobirama**. Why does the Uchiha have his Sharingan active?"

The Genjutsu Senju's voice was ice-cold. Dull, almost.

His Rival took a soft step forward. Izuna stiffened as the Genjutsu-Senju dropped her hand toward her weapons pouch.

"Touka. You _know_ Genjutsu can't affect me like that."

Izuna kept his breathing even as he rechecked the seals on the window. The Genjutsu-Senju hadn't tried to come in through them earlier. Was there a reason for that?

"You've never tested it with **those** eyes before."

Izuna twitched from his corner. He was still standing in the same room as them. They knew he could hear.

"Touka, he is a guest."

"Uchiha Izuna is a **guest**?!"

Furious, she lunged from the doorway.

Izuna hissed as he pulled his Sharingan into the Mangekyo.

He didn't need to use it, however.

His Rival had the Genjutsu-Senju by the arm and had managed to move far enough into the doorway to block it off.

(Images flashed by.)

"I am **not** under any Genjutsu, Touka!"

(Burnt bodies and a kunai in his back.)

(He wasn't going to attack first. He wasn't.)

"That's what he'd make you say."

The dull voice again.

(Like Madara's, after the Senju all fell.)

Izuna could feel his chakra rushing around his body, agitated, as the Genjutsu-Senju refused to let up. Neither Senju was willing to injure the other. The entire situation was going nowhere.

(They had been **so close** to an understanding before this **mess** -)

The Genjutsu-Senju made to talk again, and it was too much. Izuna straightened from the back of the room and snarled.

(He was **not** controlling the Bastard!)

"Shut it, Senju!"

He glared at the Genjutsu-Senju.

"I don't care about your opinions on my being here - **deal with it.** No matter how bad the past few days might have been for you, I can assure you that **_I've had it worse_**."

With a deep breath, he moved to crouch back in the corner, glaring at the Senju in the doorway.

He had wanted to ask about peace, and what did he get?! He got attacked by a Tree, woke up in some random-ass hut-looking thing with no chakra, had to sit in said hut-which-was-actually-a-lab for a really fucking stressful day, and then got accused of manipulation by the Bastard's stab-happy cousin!

"Fucking idiots. All of you."

He didn't bother trying to hide his ire. If they were going to talk about him loudly when he was right there, then he would do it, too. See how they liked it.

* * *

There was a long moment of quiet.

(And whispers from the doorway that he couldn't quite make out.)

The tension at the door gradually bled away. Izuna glared from his side of the room when the Genjutsu-Senju walked in. His Rival placed himself between them, though in a less obvious way than before.

They managed to all sit down peacefully (if still slightly tense).

It was calm for the most part, especially after the Bastard pulled out rations for them all - given from a safe distance, of course. Izuna could almost relax.

Or at least he thought he could until the Genjutsu-Senju got her voice back again.

"...What the fuck happened to you, Uchiha?"

Izuna sneered over his bland dinner.

How long had it taken her to notice the bandages around his ribs? (And thank Kami that the Senju let him take off the ones over his eye earlier.)

"I already told you - The idiot Tree-Bastard happened."

The Genjutsu-Senju turned to his Rival.

"And bringing him back to your private labs?"

"It was necessary-"

"I can't see how this was a good idea, Tobi."

"I could not give him over to his clan healers."

She took a moment to aggressively eat a rice ball before continuing.

"...I'm going to kill Hashirama, for making my life so complicated."

Izuna raised an eyebrow at her. Should he? (May as well...)

"I can help."

Narrowed eyes from both of the Senju, though only the Genjutsu-Senju actually glared. (His Rival just seemed... tired.)

"Watch yourself, Uchiha."

Izuna huffed. As if.

"No thanks, I'm enjoying my life while I'm still able to live it."

His Rival clenched his jaw.

"I have told you - we will not harm you while you are here."

("We?! Since when do you decide who I can and can't beat up?")

("Since I was made second in command, Touka.")

Izuna looked at the two of them with as unimpressed of a frown as he could manage. "It's not you that I'm worried about."

"Hashirama is currently banned from setting foot near here, so you are fine."

"The Tree-idiot? Also no. I thought he was going to tell Madara about my situation. I'm more worried about **his** reaction."

Izuna paused, frowning.

"What exactly is the Tree going to tell him?"

"I instructed my brother to only say that you were injured and we saved your life, but that you would be in Senju custody until you were able to leave."

Both Izuna and the Genjutsu Senju paled.

"...Please tell me he has a better way to phrase that."

"For once I have to agree with the Uchiha Brat. Tobi... you're telling me that Hashirama is going to meet with the Uchiha clan head to inform him that his little brother is an injured Senju prisoner."

"He is **not** a prisoner."

It was Izuna's turn to feel exasperated.

"Just _saying_ things like that aren't going to make it _look_ any better."

Izuna frowned.

"...Senju, you better hope the idiot doesn't mention how, or more specifically, _who_ it was that landed me in this situation to start with."

An eyebrow rose. "Yourself?"

Izuna's eyes narrowed, unimpressed.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Bastard."

The Genjutsu-Senju piped up from her side of the room.

"It couldn't have been too bad, right? I mean, you're still standing around and being aggravating."

Izuna sneered. "Nice to know the feeling is mutual, Senju."

* * *

Somehow, time managed to pass by even slower than it had while waiting for the Genjutsu-Senju's arrival.

No one in the lab had any misconceptions about whether they would be sleeping that night.

(The answer was a solid 'no.')

Izuna refused to sleep while the Genjutsu-Senju was there, and she refused to relax - or even pretend to relax - while he was nearby. His Rival had full reign of the lab, while Izuna and the Genjutsu-Senju, in contrast, stayed on their respective sides. Her by the door, him by the window.

As far apart as physically possible while still staying inside the building.

Izuna snorted. He would have stabbed someone if they told him a few days ago that the White-Demon would play mediator between a Senju-Uchiha interaction.

* * *

As expected, it was a long night.

The Genjutsu-Senju fucking stabbed herself in the arm near midnight; she refused to tell anyone why.

Meanwhile, the Bastard spent the entire time trying to copy the snowflake, but the occasional twitch he made whenever Izuna or the Genjutsu-Senju moved was messing up the diagram. (To his Sharingan it was like watching an _incredibly_ incorrect jutsu done in slow-motion. Borderline **painful** to watch and only worse the longer he looked).

And then, sometime in the very-early morning, the Genjutsu-Senju decided to have a conversation, of all things.

"What are the chances of Madara killing Hashirama?"

It was a token to their collective paranoia that both he and the Bastard responded within a second of her question.

"Minimal." "High."

The Bastard gave him an alarmed look from the desk. The Genjutsu-Senju, an unimpressed one.

"Be honest, Uchiha."

Izuna sighed.

"...Not unless the Tree puts his foot in his mouth in some spectacular fashion, no."

Both Senju paled, and Izuna felt the urge to clarify things. His brother wasn't a raving attack dog like the Inuzuka. He wouldn't lose all rationality at the slightest twitch. He gave both the Senju an annoyed glare.

"You _do_ know that Madara has known that the Tree is an idiot for a while now. As long as he's not worse than that he should be fine."

The Genjutsu-Senju let out a slow exhale.

"You're rather calm about this all, Uchiha."

Izuna raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the Genjutsu-Senju.

"Would you rather I try to kill you every few minutes?"

And, once again, the room drifted into silence.

* * *

Just as the light of dawn was starting to show through the window, the Bastard stopped writing.

He just... froze in place.

Izuna looked between the Bastard, his diagram, and an alarmed Genjutsu-Senju.

"Tobi."

There was no response.

"Tobi. What's going on?"

Still no response. Izuna took the initiative.

"Hey Bastard!"

His Rival slowly looked over to him and the Genjutsu-Senju.

(Calm. So calm-looking. And yet... not.)

"...Hashirama and Madara are coming."

Izuna swallowed. Madara was already on his way? And close enough for the Bastard to sense? He had to be **pissed**.

"Here? Both of them?! Hashirama is leading that Uchiha here? What's the idiot thinking!?"

"Hashirama is... not leading. He appears to be losing ground, actually."

It was said so matter-of-factly, and so calmly, that Izuna could almost ignore that his Rival was twitching more paranoidly than Madara around friendly civilians. The Bastard's face had completely closed off as well. His battle-mask was back on.

Izuna didn't feel much better. He had made his plan under the sole assumption that Madara would **never, ever** find out.

Madara definitely knew now, and before Izuna could convince the Senju to let him out on his own.

_Fuck._

"So Madara is angry enough to ignore the Tree." A deep breath. "There goes any chances of me being allowed outside of the compound for the next twenty years. Wonderful."

The Bastard looked at him side-eyed, but Izuna made no effort to clarify.

(Izuna would forever deny that his voice came out even the slightest bit hysterical. It never happened. He was **calm**.)

"Your ribs are not completely healed. If you were to leave now-"

Izuna waved his Rival off.

"Please save your complaints and lodge them with my clan head, I'm sure he's feeling **incredibly** considerate right now."

The room was still - the Genjutsu-Senju now looked like she was one wrong move away from tying him up and dragging his Rival away from the madness.

Izuna took another deep breath.

"And on that thought. Please leave talking to Madara to me."

* * *

His Rival studiously didn't look at the Genjutsu-Senju as he walked over to Izuna's corner.

"Here."

It was a sealing scroll.

"Your supplies."

Izuna blinked, then unsealed the items one by one.

His ninja wire, his sword, kunai, shuriken, armor (bloody), clothes (also bloody), senbon, rations, and the other miscellaneous weapons he liked carrying around just in case they were needed... everything was there.

Izuna nodded, and then resealed everything.

He pretended not to see both Senju relax after his sword was finally sealed safely away.

The Genjutsu-Senju looked like she had just been forced to eat two-month-old rations, and was one step away from murder. (Though whether it was him or his Rival, he didn't know.)

His Rival, however, was still wary, but he seemed warier of Madara's imminent arrival than him at this point.

Another display of trust.

Izuna scanned back over to the desk with scrolls piled high. And the incorrect snowflake diagram. He considered carefully.

(The only other option he had was to sit and do nothing with his last little bit of time.)

(Like he had with the entirety of yesterday.)

* * *

Izuna eventually came to a decision.

He closed his eyes, letting out a slow exhale.

"Bastard. Give me a blank scroll and a fine brush."

He wasn't going to say please. If the Bastard did it, then good for him. If not, then it was the Bastard's loss and he wouldn't feel guilty about letting the Senju toil away on his bad diagram for the next month. Either way, this was a win-win situation for him.

Improved relations, or not having to bother helping.

Yes, he was fine with either option.

There was a long, tense wait. When the Bastard finally made his cautious way over to the corner, Izuna grabbed the scroll and sat down. After a quick survey of his supplies, got to work.

_The Bastard **better** be thankful._

One line here, another there, and the thin crystal structures took shape on the page. He made sure to make each stroke the correct size-proportion compared to all the others.

It was a bit harder than simply copying a pattern, size and all, but it was still easily doable.

He finished up with a detailed scan of the scroll, his mangekyo hidden from view as he faced away from the Senju, before drying the ink with a quick fuuton jutsu.

He stood slowly, making his movements obvious to both the Senju (who were suspiciously still), before moving to set the scroll on the Bastard's desk.

No one made any movement to pick it up.

Izuna frowned.

(If they were going to ignore his help like this every time, he may as well let them fail.)

He sat down against the wall with a huff.

Then he looked over to his Rival, who was -

He blinked.

His Rival was really fucking pale, now that he was paying attention. Fists clenched to the point of whiteness, and the subtle twitch Izuna had seen after the Bastard sensed Madara had grown to become easily visible. Even a civilian could have noticed it.

Izuna raised an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong with you two?"

That got them moving.

His Rival took a stuttering breath. Then the Genjustu-Senju hissed something at him. His Rival replied equally quietly before stepping toward the desk. Izuna wasn't sure what they said, but judging by the Genjutsu-Senju's growing fury, she thought the Bastard was being stupid.

Izuna scoffed inwardly. What did they think was on the scroll? A seal? He wasn't a sealing master!

* * *

The Bastard took an unreasonably long amount of time to reach the table, but when he did, he opened the scroll without hesitation.

(He opened it with determination, actually, and with the diagram facing away from everyone else in the room. Strange.)

Izuna almost missed the Bastard's soft exhale, what with the Genjutsu-Senju glaring death at his corner.

He would have been content to wait and leave his Rival be. But when the Bastard just kept **staring** at the scroll, and the Genjutsu-Senju kept staring at **him** , Izuna decided that he had had enough of the silent tension.

"We're even now."

He made sure to sound casual. Matter-of-fact. Now he didn't owe the Senju for healing him.

The Bastard looked up from the scroll, his face slack, and Izuna let out a huff.

"I refuse to be in debt to a Senju."

His Rival blinked between him and the scroll. His voice was soft when he finally broke the quiet.

"I thought you considered your injuries to absolve you of any debt."

Izuna blinked. The Bastard's brother owed him, not anyone else.

His eyes narrowed.

What would he need from the Tree to be even?

(He couldn't ask for vengeance. Not with peace on the table.)

Izuna sighed.

(May as well start now.)

"No, but thanks for reminding me that the Tree owes me new armor."

(Armor.)

(Not a weapon. Not his brother's life. Not vengeance.)

(A peace, of sorts.)

(But still a payment - he wouldn't just forget all the pain that the Tree put his family through.)

From the barely-there nod that his Rival sent him, the Senju got the message.

"Very well."


	13. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

Madara arrived with a bang.

(Let it never be said that his brother couldn't make an entrance.)

Izuna winced at the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges.

His brother had circles under his eyes dark enough to be bruises, and there were leaves and dust coating his armor that he either hadn't bothered to avoid or hadn't taken the time to brush off. He was breathing heavily, but the grip on his gunbai was steady. His face was solemn, and there were no tells of his brother's mood visible - even for Izuna.

Neither the Genjutsu-Senju nor his Rival moved when Madara stalked his way into the room, his footsteps dangerously light. A statue would have made more noise than the two Senju when Madara turned to face them.

Izuna looked around his brother's back.

The Genjutsu-Senju's face was twisted - she had agreed not to draw her weapons, but if it wasn't for his Rival subtly holding her hands in view and away from her kunai pouch, Izuna would have bet money on her attacking anyway.

He took a calming breath. (And made no sudden moves.) His Rival was holding up his end of their deal. It was Izuna's turn. He gave his brother an unimpressed stare and made his tone as dry as possible.

"Madara. The door was _unlocked_."

* * *

Eyes wide, Madara's gaze flickered between him and the Senju on the other side of the room. A moment passed as he worked through the implications of that statement. And the fact that Izuna's Sharingan were active.

His little brother was not in the middle of a fight. His chakra wasn't sealed - he wasn't a prisoner. There was no danger at the moment (outside of paranoia, but that was always a given in their line of work).

Madara turned away from the Senju.

There was a long silence where the only thing he could do was stare at his brother, and be stared at in turn. Then Madara spoke.

" **Izuna**."

Izuna recoiled at the venom in his brother's tone. Madara was furious - much more furious than he had expected. Now that it was focused on him, Izuna could feel his brother's wildfire chakra raging. He swallowed and put on his best innocent face.

"Yes?"

(This was bad.)

(But at least his brother wasn't focusing his anger on the Senju now.)

Madara's eyes narrowed.

" **Explain.** "

Izuna blinked.

(This was very, very bad.)

The fire of his brother's chakra was growing both hotter and colder, and Izuna didn't know what to do with that knowledge.

He tried for a smirk to make light of the situation. (It didn't get far.)

"Now?"

Madara growled, his eyes spinning between three-tomoe and his mangekyo.

" **Later**."

Izuna tamped down on his flinch at the newfound ice in his brother's voice. **_Fuck_**. He had never seen Madara like this before. Furious to the point of throwing him in the Koi pond? Yes. Heartbroken or despondent? Too many times (and far too many small graves). Disappointed? Once or twice - Izuna _never_ made the same mistake more than once.

But this coldness? Madara's blank stare? Like he was trash?

Izuna had no experience with this.

He nodded numbly to Madara.

By the time he grabbed the storage scroll with his supplies, his brother had stalked back outside. Madara was feeling gracious enough to let him walk out of the lab on his own power. (Or he didn't care what happened now.)

Izuna swallowed.

(Where was the pain in his chest coming from? His ribs or his heart?)

He kept his breathing even. Unaffected. He didn't look back at the Senju duo as he left.

(They were even and they already agreed to support their brothers' peace - there was no reason for anything further on his part.)

* * *

The Idiot Tree dashed into the clearing right as Izuna left the doorway. Madara shifted his stance to pull Izuna away from the lab, then shoved his way in between him and the Tree-Idiot, all within a second or two.

Izuna turned around to watch the Tree-Idiot circle around Madara. The Senju looked worried, but not terribly so (there wasn't any blood on Madara's clothes, after all). Izuna focused on the lab itself to keep from glaring at the man.

It looked like a lonely little hut from the outside - unremarkable and unimportant. He kept his (probably hysterical) chuckle to himself at the thought of his Rival's Jutsu lab being considered unimportant.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Tree-Idiot finally move past Madara and toward the lab's doorway. The instant the Tree-Idiot was out of sight, Madara signaled for a hasty departure.

Izuna didn't argue, as he could still feel his brother's furious chakra.

He just started running toward the border.

"Madara?! Where are you going?!"

It was the Tree-Idiot again.

Madara barely spared him a glance.

" **Leaving.** "

The Tree-Idiot didn't say anything else after that.

* * *

They both ran in silence as the sun climbed higher.

Izuna kept pace, even though his chest felt like it was on fire.

The forest was empty, and the sunshine through the tree branches was pale and washed out. The light was lifeless and cold rather than a gentle heat. No birds were out - they had likely been driven away by Madara's killing intent.

(It wasn't directed at him anymore, but Izuna could still feel it surrounding them.)

He knew the moment they passed back into Uchiha territory, just as he recognized that they weren't headed back to the compound.

He kept running anyway.

(He could deal with the pain.)

* * *

They stopped next to a stream, and Izuna kept himself carefully still.

Izuna had jeopardized his clan when he had gotten himself essentially captured. If the Senju hadn't wanted peace they could have ransomed him back or interrogated him for information. Not that they would get any information out of him, but the possibility was there.

He had endangered the clan with his actions, and he didn't know what Madara was thinking.

Madara was walking closer. He wouldn't move away, but-

Madara pulled him into a hug.

* * *

Izuna froze.

It was silent in the clearing.

Then he leaned into Madara with a relieved sigh.

He felt his brother's quick breaths puff above his head, as well as the loose, yet sturdy grip Madara held him with.

He felt his brother gradually relax, and move to hold him out at arm's length.

Red Sharingan scanned him over for injuries only once before Madara was back to hugging him.

His brother's next words came out as a broken whisper.

"What were you _thinking_ **,** Izuna?! You could have _**died**_!"

Izuna swallowed.

"Yes, I could've. But I didn't."

" **...** _Why_?"

He took a shaky breath.

(He had heard and said that same question far too many times for his own comfort.)

"To give peace a chance."

The only sounds were the ambient rustling of bushes and trees in the wind.

Then Madara pulled them apart, Sharingan spinning into his Mangekyo. Izuna winced at the tug on his ribs.

"Are you alright? Are you feeling ill, at all? Did they do something? Cast a genjutsu-"

"Yes, no, no, and no."

Madara stopped, then stared Izuna in the eye. His face was solemn.

"...This is what you were worried about yesterday morning."

A nod.

"Why didn't you tell me?! I thought!-"

Izuna grimaced but didn't move away.

"Because I _knew_ you would react like this."

"You had to have known I would find out-"

A rueful smile.

"No. You have the Tree-Idiot to thank for that. Otherwise, I could have asked my questions and left, without any fuss."

"You didn't know that!"

He winced.

"At the time, I was ...confident in my ability to come back to the compound, even if I was attacked."

(It sounded much better that way rather than dying to restart the Day and pretend it never happened.)

"How did you think running toward Senju territory alone could help?! You could have run into a patrol!"

"...I was planning on it."

His brother tightened his hold and Izuna hissed. He tapped his brother on the shoulder.

"Madara. Ribs."

And then he could breathe easily again. Madara took a slow breath.

"I'll take that explanation you promised me now, little brother."

* * *

By the end of his explanation, Izuna could feel Madara struggling to keep from twitching.

"So you went to the Senju border alone on the off-chance that the Senju show up and decide to talk instead of fighting."

A nod.

"Then you had a conversation with the White Demon of the Senju before being accidentally severely injured by the Senju clan head."

"Yes."

"And then you received medical aid from the White Demon inside his lab, and stayed in a room with two of the top Senju fighters for over a day."

"Correct."

Madara was solemn when he grabbed Izuna by the shoulder.

"Izuna."

A breath.

"You are **grounded**."

Izuna blinked. Then he raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"You technically can't ground the person in charge of mission assignments, brother."

Narrowed eyes.

" _Watch_ me."

A raised eyebrow.

"I'll just un-ground myself, Madara. You can't babysit me for the next however-many years."

Madara opened his mouth, paused, then closed it again.

Madara then deflated. His voice was soft.

"Just. _Please_. Until your ribs are healed."

Izuna let out a sigh.

"...I can agree to that."

He chuckled.

"'Mother-hen Madara,' wonder what the Hyuuga would say about that?"

A scoff from his brother.

"Nothing worth listening to."


	14. Hopes, Dreams, and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

The sun was high in the sky as Madara and Izuna rested. They sat in the shade of the clan safehouse, leaning against the outer wall. Madara fiddled with a leaf in his hand.

"Izuna?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think- could it actually work? ...A peace between the Senju and the Uchiha?"

Izuna blinked. The leaf was frozen between his brother's fingers.

Could it? He told his Rival that he didn't know, and it was an honest answer, but that was because they were the practical ones. Madara was a dreamer.

He let out his breath.

"The Bastard and I are already committed to it, so there's isn't much point in worrying."

Madara turned to him, the leaf forgotten.

"Committed... to peace?"

Izuna shrugged.

"It turns out that the Tree-Idiot wasn't lying about wanting peace."

"How would that change anything?"

Madara's eyes were sharp, spinning red pinwheels. There would be no skirting around the question. (Not that Izuna had any intention of that, anyway.) He kept his gaze steady.

"I'm willing to... put aside getting vengeance on the Tree."

He took a long, wary look around the clearing.

"...I won't forget, or even forgive, but I can try to tolerate the Senju. I'd assume they'll be having a similar problem with us, too."

After another moment of stillness, Madara leaned back into the wall with a considering hum. He picked up another leaf.

* * *

They left the safehouse in the afternoon, the day having been spent resting and recovering. When they reached the compound at sunset, they were met with a solemn sight. The compound was dreary and there were no civilians walking about or picking up stalls at the central market. The guards took one look at the two brothers and let them through. A quick glance showed that there hadn't been a market that day at all. Izuna winced at the sight.

As they approached the center of the compound, Elder Arashi was quick to leave his house and meet them in the streets. He stood to the side, but just ever-so slightly in their way. 

He was blocking them, then.

"Madara."

"Yes, Elder Arashi?"

"I see you have managed to retrieve your brother from the clutches of the Senju elites."

(And all by himself - Arashi was skeptical and suspicious.)

The tone was deceptively conversational. As if a veiled hint that Madara was a traitor was like talking about the weather.

It made Izuna's blood boil. Madara was just blinking confusedly off to the side.

Izuna would take care of this.

"Yes, the Tree is no match for my brother's speed."

The elder pursed his lips.

"Ah, so he was able to escape?"

And now the elder was accusing his brother of being a coward.

Izuna's voice was icy when he spoke next.

"Would you have preferred he stay to fight instead of returning to watch over the clan?"

The elder took a slow step back.

(It was subtle, but Izuna smirked inwardly at it.)

"Of course not, we are all glad that he has returned."

(But not _him_... So they were suspicious now of how he got out of the situation unscathed.)

Izuna huffed. He made his voice dark, putting a bit more venom into his smile than was necessary.

"The Senju were mistaken to have tried for a ransom."

The elder blinked, then gave a slow nod. He waved them onward - satisfied with the answer.

Izuna and Madara walked the last few meters to the clan head's house. Izuna could feel Madara brooding next to him, and just hoped beyond all hope that his brother wouldn't try asking out loud why he lied about there being a ransom.

At least until they were away from prying eyes.

They reached the door and entered, immediately noticing that the light was on in the study. Probably Hikaku. And Hikaku did not like to be disturbed if he was in the middle of paperwork.

(It would also probably be best to not barge in and give the man a heart-attack.)

Madara knocked on the door, then stepped back.

"If your report isn't urgent, leave it at the door."

Izuna cringed. Hikaku sounded _terrible_ \- like he hadn't slept for days.

_ He probably hasn't. _

(His cousin had most-likely been subsisting completely off burnt rice and stale vegetables, because Kami knows he can't cook to save his life.)

Madara stepped up to the door and knocked again. "And what is it that's so urgent?"

"Plans to-"

His voice cut off with a strangled note. There was the sound of muffled scrambling from inside, and then the door was ripped open.

Hikaku's ponytail was lopsided and disheveled, and he had eye bags to rival Madara's. Sharingan assessed each other from across the doorway as Hikaku gaped. He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, looked between Izuna and Madara, then shut it again. He leaned against the doorway with a relieved sigh and gestured them inside.

"You're back."

Madara nodded. "Yes."

* * *

Hikaku sat down with an audible thump, with the two brothers following quickly behind him. The table in front of them was covered in scrolls and a map of the Land of Fire, with various scribbles on notes next to the Senju lands that hand't been there last Izuna checked. It looked like Hikaku had been planning a rescue, even though it would have been him against the three Senju elites.

Izuna snorted. What would have happened if Hikaku had shown up in the middle of Madara's rescue to rescue them both?

(It would have been a mess.)

Hikaku cleared his throat.

"Please explain what is going on."

Madara kept quiet, giving Izuna a pointed look.

(As if to say "you started this, now you deal with it.")

"Madara isn't insane, and neither is the Tree."

Hikaku stuttered in place.

"The Tree? What tree?"

Izuna waved his hand dismissively.

"You know - that Bastard Idiot-Senju that wants to give everyone a hug and call it a day. The clan head. _That_ Tree."

"Hashirama?!"

"Yep. Him and Madara's ideas aren't terrible. Who could've imagined that?"

Madara sneered from his side of the table.

"I do not enjoy being compared to that Senju."

Izuna raised an eyebrow at him.

"There _is_ a difference - the Tree is infinitely worse at being decent than you. That's why the Tree is the Tree, and will forever _be_ 'The Tree.'"

One hand rubbing at his temple, Hikaku waved his other hand in between them.

"Madara, Izuna, if you would move to the point now?"

Madara took the initiative this time.

"We are considering a cease-fire deal with the Senju."

Hikaku choked on dry air.

Izuna silently apologized for his brother's bluntness.

* * *

When they finished filling Hikaku in, he just sat still, head in his hands.

"I do believe that I have seen it all at this point."

Izuna leaned closer.

"But do you agree? That peace is the best ending to the war between us and the Senju?"

"I... Yes, I agree. But both of you are still completely _insane_."

They sat in silence for a moment.

Then Izuna gestured to the map on the table.

"We need to start the trade missions back up. Take advantage of this unofficial cease-fire."

Hikaku blinked, and Madara narrowed his eyes at the map as if it had offended him.

"To where? We don't have many allies."

"The Shiranui and Hagoromo. But we need to let them know to not stage any attacks on the Senju or Senju allies."

Madara grimaced.

"A tall order. The Hagoromo are not going to ignore the systematic hunting that the Hatake have whittled them down with."

Madara gestured to the small scrap of territory at the northern edge of the map.

"And they have lost nearly all of their territory to various Senju allies.

Izuna narrowed his eyes.

"Tough luck for them. They are going to agree to a cease-fire or they won't get the weapons. They need better weapons than whatever flimsy tools they've been using to defend themselves, and we have an opportunity to help them, but we _are not_ endangering the unspoken truce with the Senju right now. A chance like this won't ever come again."

Hikaku spoke up from his seat.

"We'd have to trust their word that they wouldn't attack the Senju. We can't send a group to monitor our allies. We're spread thin enough already."

Izuna nodded.

"Exactly. I'm not sending anyone out unless they’re in a sizeable group, and we can't spare that many warriors for an extended period of time."

He frowned.

"The Hagoromo and Shiranui also probably wouldn't enjoy having an Uchiha war band in their midst. Our alliance has been strong as far back as anyone can remember, but alliances are not unbreakable."

Madara shifted, his jaw clenched.

"So what are we supposed to do? Ask nicely?"

There were not many options, let alone good ones. Izuna pointed along the few roads that ran through mainly Uchiha-aligned or neutral territory.

"Send out well-guarded caravans, and let our allies know about the cease-fire while trading. We can phrase it as something else, but only if we need to. 'Luring the Senju into a false sense of security,' or 'building up our strength,' it doesn't matter what."

Madara frowned.

"And when they realize what's really going on?"

"We just need to make sure that a cease-fire, even one they were tricked into, is more desirable than fighting to the bloody end. Which means we need to take as much advantage of the cease-fire as possible, and then pray to Kami we get enough time for their clansmen to come to the conclusion that peace is an option, and a good one at that."

He paused.

"Trading, travel, diplomatic visits and guests, and healing. We should also make sure to find trading opportunities for their non-shinobi specialties, and 'sell' them that information."

Madara frowned.

"Why not just give it to them. We want them to have it, and they would want to know."

Izuna shook his head. "No one does anything for free, Madara."

"It would advance peace-"

"And we don't want them to know that unless they agree with the idea."

Madara backed down, but Hikaku stepped forward.

"And what about us? All the Uchiha have to trade are shinobi weapons."

Izuna paused. (There was an idea. But it came with sizeable risks.) The Bastard had struggled with it. And was shocked when he saw the finished scroll. If the Senju didn't know, then other clans likely wouldn't. Meaning that the Daimyo and other civilian customers almost definitely wouldn't know about the Sharingan's skill at copying non-jutsu materials.

He looked up to meet Hikaku, and then Madara, in the eyes.

"Scribing. we can copy scrolls."

They both froze.

"How are we going to convince the clan? What warrior with the Sharingan would willingly reduce themselves to copying scrolls for a living?"

"Anyone. I'll even do it if no one else does. Because it doesn't matter what the scrolls record, be it the productivity of rice-farms or a census. Either way, whoever we send will remember it, and they can then add it to the clan records. We would need to keep it extremely secret, however, to keep information about the Sharingan's abilities out of other clans' hands."

Madara gestured for him to go on.

"It won't pay off, other than monetarily, more often than not. But, if we can get the jobs, it would be a way to gather information as well as a source of income. We could frame it as an espionage mission to the elders."

Madara was quiet for a long moment. Then he turned to Izuna.

"So we have a plan. Trading missions and scroll copying."

Izuna nodded.

"It seems that we do. Hikaku, you can gather the first trading patrol group - you'll leave within the week."

Hikaku stood.

"I'll get it done, cousins. For what it's worth, I hope this idea of yours works out."

He left the two brothers in the study, striding out with purpose.

* * *

After they heard the front door close, Madara slumped down with a groan.

"Izuna, at what point are we drawing the line on the lies? When are we going to tell our clansmen the truth? That we are aiming for peace with the Senju? I saw what you did with Elder Arashi. What if everyone believes it?"

Izuna paused.

"We don't need to tell them about our plan. What we need to do is provide them the information to figure it out on their own, without letting the elders catch wind of the truth. You and I both know how the idea of 'peace' would go over with the current Uchiha elders. They'd spit in your face if they didn't die of heart failure just hearing that word."

Madara's shrunk into himself - he was likely trying to figure out how he was supposed to successfully outmaneuver the Elders in politics when he couldn't lie to save his life. Izuna chuckled and pat his brother on the arm.

"Don't worry, I'm already handling it."

Madara sighed, then gave him a quick hug.

(His "thank you" was almost inaudible, even at the close distance.)

He let go and gave a quick nod.

"Stay safe."

Izuna nodded back. He left the room with a soft smile on his face.

(His brother was _happier_.)


	15. Politics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

Izuna frowned at the fallen leaves littering the walkways.

It was still rather strange to wake up to a new day. To wake up each morning in the same bed but on a different day and watch as the leaves of nearby trees slowly changed their colors.

He tracked one lone leaf as it fell, dropping in between distant roofs. His eyes narrowed.

The early autumn was an ill omen, the Elders said.

A sign that the current actions of the clan were unfavorable to the gods, and that the ancestors disapproved.

Izuna would have preferred that they dropped their airs and just called the weather what it was - an imminent and early winter. Lost crops and lost business were things to plan for, not spout propaganda about.

He had a plan that was already set in motion and there was no going back. (Not after how confusedly _hopeful_ Madara had been the past few weeks.)

The weather just meant more organization and diplomacy in order to make the winter pass as smoothly as possible. It also meant, more than ever, that he needed to keep his clansmen away from the Senju. Even without the unofficial truce, the beginning of a long drought of work and food was not the time to be picking fights.

If the elders were hoping that the "signs" would convince him to change his stances on the truce, they were sorely mistaken.

Unlike their honored ancestors, he didn't have the luxury of plotting eternal vengeance at the cost of all other things. (He didn't have the luxury of ignorance - not anymore.) The living had to make do with what they were given and compromise. Less grain for each family in order to survive the winter. More patrols and fewer missions in order to fend off bandits and desperate farmers.

Forsaking vengeance in order to end a war.

Another leaf fell on the walkway and Izuna shook himself out of his thoughts. He pulled away from the window with a sigh.

It was a new day and there was work to do.

* * *

Other than the Elders and the weather, things were going according to plan. The Hagoromo clan were mutinous, but they would keep low for the time being. Their clan members varied between terrified paranoia and stoic emotionlessness, but Izuna had high hopes that with a more stable future, they might be easier to convince. They were already more comfortable with actual weapons to use. Especially after the unseasonably early autumn weather.

The Shiranui clan head, on the other hand, was a bit more aware of Izuna and Madara's plans. Thankfully it was to their benefit - Shiranui Kuyo was surprisingly reasonable, and all but openly stated her support for peace.

Now if only the Uchiha could get to that point.

He had worked the rumor mill, and spread the truth - the Senju didn't want to fight. There was no ransom. There wasn't even any fighting.

Madara would probably throw him in the koi pond if he realized that after saying that deception was necessary, Izuna had turned around and told the truth. But it was working (if very, _very_ slowly), and only fools let the wording of promises get in the way of their actual intent.

More and more Uchiha were relaxing into the impromptu cease-fire, and taking notice that they hadn't seen any Senju for weeks. The Senju were backing off, and there was no need, even in the most vengeance-driven Uchiha's eyes, to go hunting for trouble when they could see how peaceful the compound had become. When they could see the hopeful faces of their children and parents and relatives.

There were holdouts, though. The ones who had no family left to care for or be cared for by. They saw the peace as the lie Madara spun for the Elders - as a means to an end.

Many of them would sooner tear out their own eyes than help a Senju, and Izuna cursed their tunnel-vision.

_"Will we fall for more Senju lies?!"_

It had been Yume, a distant aunt of his known for spoiling children rotten. At least, while hers were still alive. (What did it say that he couldn't remember the twins' names? Would Madara know?)

Hearing her brought back memories of poisoned kunai in his back. The feeling of numb tingling, spreading too quickly and still all too slow at the same time.

_("Brother! Don't listen to his lies!")_

Izuna took a deep breath as he closed the door behind him.

It was an unfortunate truth that once there was a choice, people would disagree with which path to take.

He walked through the compound, nodding a greeting to his cousins and the compound guards.

It was even more unfortunate that the Elders were against Madara's dream. Elder Arashi had become a regular sight at patrol debriefings, dropping comments to keep hostilities high, and watching Izuna very, very carefully. Izuna grinned viciously.

They were right to be concerned about the changing attitudes of the clan.

Not that it would do them any good - step two of his plan began today.

* * *

He wandered around completing small chores until he found what he was waiting for.

_The elders must be getting desperate if they're trying to convince the civilians._

One of his clansmen - a trader - was gently rocking a small child, speaking to an aged woman.

"...We haven't seen any Senju for weeks now, Elder Naka, and the recent trading missions have been successful-"

The old woman clenched her fists.

"I am still opposed to this. The lack of Senju is an ill omen! That they are trying to keep their movements hidden is not a favorable sign for the future."

Her eyes narrowed. "We must keep vigilant. The Senju might try to strike at any moment."

Izuna smoothed his face into calmness kept his voice neutral, smothering his annoyance.

"Or, the Senju might be trying to avoid conflict. How likely is it that the Senju are anywhere near us if there are no Senju to be seen? The Sharingan can't be tricked."

His clanmates only had past behavior, and the opinions of the elders to base their own opinions on. They needed a push to see that peace was acceptable.

(His own push had been 45 days long and _painful_.)

"Honored Elder, there is no need for fear. We should take advantage of this truce-of-sorts while we can to prepare for the upcoming Winter."

_There is no need to endanger our Winter preparations due to paranoia._

She turned to him calculatingly. "How can we know that the Senju are not planning to stab us in the back?"

"I'd assume they need to prepare as well."

_They breathe, they eat, and they die the same as us._

The trader relaxed in his peripheral vision, looking less pale, and the Elder frowned. She spoke.

"It is better to have planned for the worst, is it not?"

He raised an eyebrow at her clipped tone.

"Not when the 'planning' aims to make the worst option the only option, honored elder."

She blinked, staring him down for a minute or two before huffing to herself. She had tired eyes.

"I still do not approve of this rampant risk-taking. We cannot trust the Senju."

"Then trust in our patrols to make sure nothing slips by them. As I said earlier, the Sharingan can't be tricked."

"Your confidence will be our downfall."

"Or it will clear a path for a better future."

He left the elder in silence.

* * *

After all of the minor chores in the compound had been taken care of, he found himself sitting near the koi pond. He smiled.

Just last week, he had seen Madara wander around it as if he were looking for something. Izuna wasn't sure whether it was because his brother actually couldn't find something, or was just using an excuse to take a relaxing walk. Either way, he let his brother keep his peace.

 _And speaking of Madara..._ He watched as a hawk flew in from the north. It landed on the ground nearby and gave him an angry glare, only just barely allowing him to unroll the message.

_It seems that he's checking in again._

Izuna sighed, but he shifted to his feet. It was time to head back to the study.

If he didn't answer soon enough, then the little demon would fly off without a message, and then Madara would _worry_.

Before, worrying meant Madara would flail. Now, it meant Madara would hunt him down and follow him around the compound like a particularly large and imposing duckling - regardless of the audience.

Izuna had learned this two weeks ago, and cousin Daichi still refuses to let it go.

The children had decided to get in on the action, and so Izuna had walked to each of his meetings trailed by Madara and three toddlers.

(Kagami, the little brat, even managed to pressure Madara into carrying his baby sister around. The diplomats from the Shiranui clan got the dubious honor of signing a document while the Uchiha clan head tried to stop an infant from pulling his hair.)

Back in the study, and about halfway through writing his return letter, there was a light knock on the door.

"Come in."

Izuna froze when he saw who it was.

It was Hikaku, and he was back almost a full day early.

(He was pale. Too pale.)

He stood up as Hikaku slipped inside.

"We ran into the White Demon."

Izuna felt his blood turn to ice.

"What happened."

There were so many possibilities, but with Hikaku's expression...

Had they been tricked? (Had _he_ been tricked? Had Izuna sent his clansmen to their deaths on a false promise?)

Hikaku wasn't answering, just shakily pulling out his mission report scroll. Izuna felt his chakra crackling around him but couldn't bring himself to care. He clenched his sword tightly. If the Senju had attacked - especially if _that_ Senju had attacked - he would-

Izuna grit his teeth. He didn't know what he would do.

(Deep breaths.)

He would do something.

(There would be blood to pay.)

"Who died."

At that, Hikaku froze. His cousin looked over at him, and handed him the mission scroll.

"No one died."

Izuna realized that he could _breathe_ again, but couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of missing something important. Hikaku's hands were still shaking.

"Was anyone injured?"

"Also no one."

Izuna blinked. Something had happened. What wasn't Hikaku telling him?

"The weapons?"

"Delivered on time."

Then what happened? And why was Hikaku pulling out another scroll? There was no clan insignia on the extra-

_Oh._

There was one. It was just very, very small.

A Senju scroll.

And if they ran into the Bastard, that means that the Bastard gave it to him.

"I... see."

Izuna took the proffered scroll and nodded to Hikaku.

"I'll look this over and send a copy to Madara. You can debrief the patrols for tonight - I have the feeling this might take a while."

 _This wasn't something to talk about where others could hear. But still, Hikaku didn't_ need _to forgo any explanation..._

Izuna bundled the scrolls away, keeping his grumbling to himself. (Was this what Madara felt?) He'd need to take this to the dark room - no windows for wandering eyes to look through.

"Izuna. There is something else you need to know."

He looked up to see Hikaku still standing there, stiff and grim.

Instantly, Izuna's eyes narrowed. _There was something else that had unnerved Hikaku._ He gestured for Hikaku to follow and they slipped out of the office and down the hall. To the dark room. (It seemed that their time was up.)

Izuna locked the door behind them and activated the privacy seals. Old, and stolen from the Uzumaki in ages past, the seals would keep the elders away at least for an hour or two. He turned to Hikaku, who had drifted to the central table.

"What is it?"

Hikaku dropped into a seiza at the edge of the table.

"The..." A swallow. " _Senju_ gave me the scroll in broad daylight. In front of my patrol. Wearing Senju gear. The fighters I brought back with me trust me enough to wait, but the others... they believe the elders' rumors about your capture. When they finish up and come back..."

Izuna hissed. "Fuck."

Hikaku nodded and smoothed out his clothes.

"Indeed."

Izuna dropped the scroll on the table and sat down lightly. He waited for Hikaku to continue.

"...Have you made any progress on convincing the clan to accept peace?"

A sigh.

"The elders are suspicious, but the merchants are making a comeback. The deciding factor will be the fighters. You brought back Akinao and Tori with you, right?"

"Daichi and Akinao. I left Tori to keep the rest on task."

"Hm... we have a small window of opportunity, then. I'll send out the notices - A clan meeting tonight. We can argue that this situation is too important to wait any longer."

_We can't wait for the other half of the patrol to get back and tell the elders._

"The traders won't be able to make the meeting, cousin, and neither will most of the fighters that are on our side."

Izuna thought back to his morning.

"I know for a fact that at least one trader is in the compound right now."

Hikaku frowned.

"That's not enough to outnumber the elders and those that side with them."

Izuna grimaced, his fist clenching. The elders were backed mainly by clansmen too buried in their goal of vengeance to see other possibilities. They lived in paranoia, twitching for weapons at the slightest mention of the Senju.

He had assigned them to guard the compound so that their paranoia could be put to use. Madara and Hikaku had agreed.

(Izuna couldn't send angry clansmen out on long-distance missions - not when diplomacy was suddenly so important.)

(So now they were all in the compound.)

Izuna cursed softly.

_Stupid. We were so stupid._

"Contact him anyway. And..."

It was unprecedented. It was a gamble. It was also the only chance he had.

"Contact the civilians, too. This will be a clan-wide meeting."

Hikaku sputtered.

"You want to invite children?! What about security?!"

Izuna clenched his teeth. He took a calming breath.

"Too late to worry about that if the security is going to be working against us anyway."

_Most of the guards are on the elders' side. And it's only me, Hikaku, the trader, and a handful of fighters against them._

_(Will the trader even speak up?)_

He glared at the table.

If it came to an even fight, with every single Uchiha in one place, Madara's group was the largest. But now, while half the clan was out on a mission? The odds didn't look good.

If the civilians were added to the equation - if the parents and children and craftsmen were allowed to bring their opinions in... What would they choose?

Follow the elders' "wisdom?" Or speak against the elders on an uncertain possibility?

(It was a chance Izuna needed to take. He wouldn't fail Madara _now_ , of all times.)

He rubbed his eyes wearily, then pulled the Bastard's scroll closer.

"Well," he sighed, unrolling it, "we may as well see what the meeting is going to be about."


	16. Diplomacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!
> 
> better late than never! enjoy!

**Diplomacy**

There were two parts to the scroll - a letter with short, jotted handwriting (Izuna recognized this as his Rival's handiwork), and a smaller scroll rolled up inside it. The paper was thicker and more finely grained on the little scroll, whereas the outer one was remarkable only in its averageness.

Izuna frowned and picked up the smaller scroll.

It would make sense to use the rougher paper to hide the true letter inside if you wanted to be both sneaky and diplomatic.

...But his Rival had been neither of those things when he handed Hikaku the letter in _broad daylight_.

So with a skeptical tilt to his head, Izuna unrolled the smaller scroll. He narrowed his eyes at the sealing inkwork inside it.

_A storage scroll?_

He traced the lines, then pulled the first scroll nearer.

_...This could be more interesting than expected._

_But first, let's see if the letter explains anything, or if it's just a decoy._

The first paragraph was a standard greeting - polite and formal.

(There was a distinct absence of enthusiasm that Izuna could only thank his Rival for. Tobirama must have kept the Tree from gushing his _feelings_ about peace all over the letter, and also stopped the genjutsu-Senju from adding in threats every half-line.)

(Thank goodness.)

The next few lines went into detail about the possible opportunities and advantages of not being at war. Then a very carefully worded comment on not letting past grievances affect the future, which was immediately followed by all the possibilities of mutual trading.

Then it transitioned into a thick wall of jargon, terms of arrangement for future meetings, and diplomatically phrased offers and requests.

Izuna had an eyebrow raised by the end of the letter. His Rival had definitely spent some time on the wording, but it all boiled down to requesting an official truce and trading Senju healing supplies for Uchiha metalworks.

(This was a business deal. He could work with that.)

Izuna rerolled the paper up and moved on to the storage scroll, handing the letter across the table to Hikaku.

Hikaku was quick to pick out the intent as well.

"So the Senju want an official agreement."

Izuna rubbed his eyes tiredly. The Senju couldn't wait even six weeks? Just saying that he supports peace doesn't mean it will immediately come true! He waved a hand toward the seals on the small scroll. "Yes, and they gave us a storage scroll."

Hikaku scanned the letter again, this time with his Sharingan active.

"The letter doesn't say what's inside."

Izuna gave the seal a side-eyed look. It sat innocently on the table, deep red ink showing up nearly black on the paper. _Time to find out._

He unsealed it.

After a small puff of smoke, there was a well-cleaned set of crimson armor and another small scroll sitting on the table. (The scroll was addressed to him, in bold brushstrokes. It was likely written by either the Tree or the Genjutsu-Senju.)

(Whether it was the Tree’s feelings or Genjutsu-Senju’s threats, he didn’t care. He’d read it after he dealt with the upcoming clan meeting.)

Izuna ignored the new scroll in favor of staring at the armor. It was incredibly familiar. The paint on one of the chest plates was warped and cracked, and the metal below the paint was similarly deformed. In a few places, the plates had been replaced entirely.

In other terms - the armor was showing all the signs of surviving multiple incredibly destructive fire jutsu, like the flames Madara spat out regularly.

Izuna blinked at the armor in shock. _If this is what I think it is..._

Izuna lifted the armor off the table and turned it over. His eyes sharpened. _There -_ There was a deep groove on the left pauldron, recently repaired. It was the same place Izuna remembered Madara's katana cutting into during a battle... two weeks prior to the Day. There was also a wide dent where Madara had once blasted the Tree through the Senju's own tree-jutsu with his gunbai.

_I don't believe this._

He checked the rest, but all the scuff marks and minor dents from kunai that he could remember were there too. He flipped the armor again to see the interior.

It was filled with seals.

_What the-_

The seals were finely crafted, the lines every bit as fine as his Rival's work in the Senju lab. A slightly different style, though. There were elegant loops and spirals where his Rival used pointed edges and geometric symmetry. The sealwork had to have been done by an Uzumaki - likely the Tree's wife.

( _Wait_ \- there was also a small seal in the center of the back. It matched his Rival's work.)

Izuna felt a migraine coming on.

He had made a comment, yes, but hadn't expected the Senju to take it _so_ _literally_.

( _"No, but thanks for reminding me that the Tree owes me new armor."_ )

He carefully set the armor down.

_A new set of armor, I asked._

**_Not_ ** _the Tree's personal armor, complete with all the seals painted on by his **wife** and **brother**!-_

Izuna took a deep breath and shakily let it out again. His migraine grew worse.

The Senju were wealthy, yes, but that didn't mean that they could throw away armor, even the hand-me-down, poorly fitted pieces that they recycled after each battle.

(The Uchiha knew this well, and had been thorough in making sure certain armor sets were never used again, regardless of who inherited them from the wearer who sparked their anger.)

But now the Senju had given the Uchiha the Senju clan head's personal armor.

_What were the Senju thinking?!_

"Izuna?"

Hikaku had looked up, and was staring at Izuna's face in concern. Izuna only gestured to the armor loosely.

"Recognize this?"

Hikaku took a quick glance, frowned, and then paled rapidly. His Sharingan activated, flickering over the scratches and dents.

"Is that?..."

"The armor of the Senju clan head? Yes."

 _I thought my Rival was_ better _than this!_

"Why?"

Hikaku's brows were furrowed. He hadn't reached the same damning conclusion Izuna had yet.

_Because I overestimated the Bastard's common sense. The entire Senju clan are idiots and nothing they do now can convince me otherwise._

Izuna could feel that his migraine wasn't going to be going away any time soon.

He gave Hikaku a solemn look.

"In my defense, I didn't expect them to actually _get_ a replacement for my armor that the Tree ruined. It was the _implication_ of the thing that mattered, not the actual-" Izuna groaned. He waved a hand at the mystery of 'what-in-kami's-name-were-the-Senju-brothers-thinking' that was the _clan head's_ _personal_ _armor_ sitting on an Uchiha table. Without any blood on it or nearby.

"I honestly have no idea what is going on in the Tree's mind right now. I asked for armor, not _his_ armor!-"

He glared at the scrolls.

"And the letter! Why _now_ , of all times? Couldn't the Bastard have waited just _one_ more week?! One more week until I can officially take missions?!"

_One more week and I could have kept the letter secret from the elders, rather than needing to tell the elders in the nicest way possible that I want to make a deal with the Senju!_

"He could have handed the scroll to me then! _Without_ setting us up with a deadline when the only people in the compound are the ones who hate the Senju!"

_The Bastard probably doesn't know about the split in the clan. But still._

_The Bastard was a bastard._

(At least that was nothing new.)

But Izuna still had a migraine.

(And he still needed to figure out how to frame this for the clan in a way that wouldn't end in murder.)

* * *

When the sun set on the compound, Izuna and Hikaku were ready.

The messages to his clansmen had been sent out and Izuna had copied the letter onto a few blank scrolls for those who hadn't yet activated their Sharingan. He and Hikaku arrived early, lit the twin braziers in the largest courtyard, and settled down quietly. All there was left to do was wait for everyone to arrive.

The first to come was a gaggle of elders, and though they grumbled about the cold of the weather and gave him suspicious glances, they made no move to talk with Izuna directly. They just stood there, with expressions ranging from distaste and annoyance, to smugness and interest.

(Izuna knew the elders could feel that something had changed with the seemingly unmarked scroll. They could sense his discomfort like sharks with blood in the water - they were content to wait, but were circling nonetheless.)

Slowly, the clan trickled in, civilians and warriors alike. The trader arrived quietly and stood on the edge of the group. When Izuna spotted Daichi and Akanao slipping into the back of the crowd with a quick nod towards him, he stepped forward.

He was interrupted before he could start.

_Elder Arashi._

"Izuna-sama."

Izuna locked eyes with the elder.

"Yes?"

The elder's tone was conciliatory with a backbone of steel, and his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"We have allowed you your Sharingan in the compound out of goodwill. But we cannot make that concession here. It is tradition, you see, and there is thankfully no need for the Sharingan here. You have been very thorough in sending warriors out on missions."

(Unsaid but implied was the elder's accusation that Izuna was the person confidently pushing for warriors to take distant missions. Wouldn't someone expect him to feel more comfortable in their own home? Should we trust someone who obviously doesn't trust us?)

_Of course elder Arashi waited until he had the largest audience possible to point this out._

(And Izuna _didn't_ trust them, not fully, so he couldn't argue the point.)

The elder was exchanging conspiratorial glances with other people in the crowd now, and Izuna nearly scowled. He hated that he couldn't justify keeping his Sharingan activated without admitting that he needed it to see. If he admitted to that tonight, it would become a weakness that everyone in the clan he didn't fully trust knew.

He needed to get _them_ to trust _him_ , however, and the discontented murmuring on the edges of the crowd was revealing enough of his clansmen's opinions.

( _"Why **does** he keep his Sharingan active? Is there something we don't know?")_

It needed to be done. For their trust.

_("Does it have to do with the Senju? I heard that they-")_

But he wasn't going to be able to _see_.

 _("Have you seen him without his Sharingan recently? Does he not trust the patrols?"_ )

Izuna had to hold back a snarl, but deactivated his Sharingan. The moderately crowded courtyard blurred into a vague mass of navy.

He couldn't see the elder's expression, but he could hear elder Arashi when the elder's tone turned patronizing.

"There. Now, why have you called us here? Does it involve the scroll that young Hikaku cut his patrol short for?"

More murmurs from ahead of him. Izuna kept his face neutral.

"It does, in fact, involve that scroll." He took a breath. ( _Rip off the bandage. It will hurt either way._ )

"We have received a business proposal from the Senju."

Izuna could feel the atmosphere in the clearing _snap_ -

There were shouts. Chaos.

Izuna skipped straight to his Mangekyo.

(He saw a sea of red spinning eyes in front of him. The fire from the braziers was climbing.)

(But he also saw a few huddled figures. Older children crying quietly while their parents either tried to shield them from the killing intent or leaked killing intent themselves.)

(And the trader. The trader was _wilting_.)

(Why, oh why, had he thought this was a good idea?!)

(This was going wrong, so _incredibly wrong_.)

Izuna blinked and there were weapons on hand in a few members of the crowd (not a crowd - a mob). His blood ran cold. Hikaku was similarly frozen next to him.

(His family was going to attack the Senju. His family was going to ruin Madara's dream.)

(They were going to-)

Izuna's breath hitched.

( ** _No._** _They will **not**_ -)

His Mangekyo spun faster.

" _Amaterasu._ "

Black fire burned away the inferno in the twin braziers. Suddenly, the only sources of light in the clearing were distant hanging lanterns.

He hadn't raised his voice, but the crowd quieted as the flames of Ameterasu flickered like a hungry void. Izuna glared and grit his teeth.

" _Honored_ elders, my clansmen and cousins... _What_ , exactly, do you think you are _doing_?"

He pointedly looked between those with the worst killing intent and the children. Most - _not all of them!_ \- got the message.

He would remain calm. He would remain calm. He would-

"But the Senju!-"

"Have sent us a piece of paper with ink on it. Is that a call to go to war?" Izuna kept his voice conversational, but he couldn't keep out the slim edge of fury. He glared into the Sharingan of each weapon-holder until they relaxed their stances, and then glared longer until the rest of the killing intent died down.

 _It seems I have an excuse to use my Sharingan during the meeting now._ (He would not be putting away his Mangekyo until this ... _issue_ was solved.)

Izuna kept his bitter smile at the thought to himself.

"Is a simple scroll a call to drop everything and try to hunt them down?"

"It is when the **_Senju_** _insult_ us-"

Izuna scoffed.

"The Senju haven't insulted us at all. The terms are surprisingly even for both sides."

The man only got as far as opening his mouth to speak again, red-faced, when an elder put a hand on his shoulder. _What will elder Naka argue for?_

"What are the terms."

"An official cease-fire, and Uchiha metalworks for Senju healing supplies."

"Why should we believe them?! That's an unfair trade!"

Another clansman spoke up. "Why would we give them weapons to kill us with?!"

Izuna raised an eyebrow at them. "The Senju never specified weapons. Only metalworks. We could give them boxes of paperweights if we wanted to. And with an official cease-fire, the Senju would not be using _any_ weapons against us or our allies."

"That's only if they don't stab us in the back!"

(Izuna felt his back tingle with poison that wasn't there.)

Elder Arashi pushed his way to the front. "It's just a lie! The Senju want to take all our weapons so that when they betray us they have all the power!"

Izuna's Mangekyo spun slowly as he stared the elder down. He kept his tone unimpressed.

"The Senju had weapons before today, and they will have weapons after today, regardless of our decision here. What matters is having the people to use the weapons. With healing supplies, we would become stronger. The conflict between our clans has been a stalemate as long as anyone can remember because the Senju have their healing. With this deal, we will have that as well."

If the clan truly needed to spite the Senju to get over this issue, why not show them that, if they accept, they could use the Senju's strength as their own?

There was a low hum of conversation in the air.

A civilian stepped forward.

"And why should we put our children at risk?"

(Like Izuna had done by requesting the civilians come to the meeting.)

Izuna held his ground. (He also held back a wince.)

"Why should we risk them by continuing wars we don't know the cause of?" A few warriors' mouths opened, likely to rant about who died, which was pointless because _everyone_ knew someone who was dead now (even the Senju). Izuna didn't give them the chance to speak.

"Unless anyone here wants to throw children at a war when we have the chance to _end_ that war?"

Another round of silence

Izuna nodded to the crowd, ignoring the way elder Arashi's face was twisting. There would be trouble later, he could see it already.

"It is only a business proposal. Not a declaration of friendship."

"Why should we agree to what the Senju want?! It's unfair to us!"

Izuna kept his face neutral.

"Then what changes should we add to make it fairer?"

The courtyard erupted into demands. With people arguing over what constituted asking too much from the Senju.

(It was better than them attempting murder.)

* * *

Evening bled into nighttime, and the talks lasted until late morning. (They only started resembling talks after midnight, though, when the anarchy of groups arguing amongst themselves slowed down enough to allow for debate.) No one wanted to give the Senju any chance to betray them, so a list of additions was written. The Uchiha clan wanted leverage - some way to be sure that the Senju would never dare betray them.

An exchange - someone from the Senju main family as a hostage. A simple item wasn't enough in their eyes - it was replaceable.

But then they argued about possible spying. Izuna didn't tell them that his Rival had apparently always been able to sense where people were, at least as far out as the Uchiha compound.

The hostage proposal was abandoned, and they moved on to discuss ways they could monitor the Senju to keep them honest. Izuna was skeptical, but his clan wasn't out trying to kill the Senju, and they were actually considering the deal (granted, they were also trying to find ways to cheat the Senju wherever possible, but hey, baby steps).

_Though it's not like the Senju will allow the loopholes once they realize they exist, so-_

There was a loud footstep from behind him. A polite alert that _someone was following him_ back to the clan head's house. Izuna turned and saw elder Naka. She looked about as bedraggled as he felt after the talks. He waited a moment for her to catch up before continuing onward.

"Yes, elder Naka?"

She gave him a considering look, eyes scanning his face, before she nodded to herself.

"You are going to follow through with this idea even if everyone here hates you for it, aren't you."

His steps stuttered.

"...Yes."

Elder Naka smiled a sad, resigned smile.

"You know something, then. Something you didn't tell the rest of the clan."

He didn't respond. Her face turned serious.

"Though you may have convinced us not to attack immediately, you have also given us no reason to trust you or the Senju."

Izuna stiffened at her intense tone.

"You know that we will not agree to the deal unless we come up with a way to trap the Senju in the terms, and we haven't found a way to do that yet. So as of right now, the elders are against treating with the Senju. They do not trust the Senju, just as you distrusted the Senju your entire life. ...But now you know something that changed your views of the Senju."

She took a slow breath.

"I will not see my clan torn apart between two sides. I know that Madara shares your views and I know now that you are willing to fight for this new... idea. But I also refuse to trust blindly."

They reached the clan head's house and stopped at the door. Elder Naka turned to fully face him.

"I want to support you, but I need to know - why do you believe that the Senju are being honest?"

Izuna let out a soft breath. He scanned the elder closely and found no signs of deceit. She was honestly concerned, not fake-concerned like Arashi.

(He had a chance here.)

(He was also far too tired of skirting around his family.)

He took a breath.

"Before I left the Senju territory with Madara, I requested a new set of armor from the Senju as reparations for my injuries."

She nodded, confused, but listened. Izuna continued.

"The Senju sent the personal armor of their clan head sealed into the scroll."

At that, elder Naka's face went slack.

"Are you sure? Are you completely certain that it is that armor?"

( _Who in their right mind would give away such an advantage?_ )

"It has Uzumaki seals lining the interior, and repair-marks in the correct areas."

( _The Senju, apparently._ )

She blinked a few times. "I... I see. I shall take this into consideration."

Her face paled, eyes darting back and forth.

"So your realization was..."

"That the Senju are idiots, but not liars."

At that, she looked over his face again, nodded, and then turned to leave, speaking over her shoulder.

"I will deal with the elders if you deal with our clansmen's need for vengeance."

And then she was walking away, giving Izuna no time to respond.

He let out his breath and finally walked inside.

(He was too tired for strategery right now. He'd deal with the implications of having a new ally _after_ taking a nap.)

(Izuna was too disciplined to flop onto his futon, but it was a close thing.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick update on the update schedule: I'm changing the update days to Saturdays!


	17. Leap of Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!
> 
> Also: updates have been rescheduled to Saturdays!

When Izuna rolled to his feet later that day, he felt a fuzzy sense of impending doom.

When he unsealed the door in the office and saw three scrolls of varying sizes and a half-written letter set aside on a nearby desk, the fuzzy sense turned into full-blown panic.

Izuna grabbed his half-written letter, resealed the room, and slipped outside. The midday sun was warm, but the cool air and slight wind made circulating chakra for warmth a necessity. He looked in between the branches of the trees around the koi pond.

"Here, birdy birdy. Where are you?" _Here, little demon bird._

There was a flicker of shadow behind one of the trees, but it was too low to be Madara's hawk. That bird wouldn't be caught dead walking on the ground. _What animal was that?_ Before he could move for a closer look, however, someone coughed.

It was Hikaku, looking vaguely amused. Izuna didn't waste any time.

"Have you seen-?"

"I saw Sunako fly off at dawn."

Izuna felt himself slump in place. _It happened again._

"On the bright side, cousin, at least Madara will be here sooner rather than later."

Izuna gave Hikaku a scowl, before brightening.

He had a plan.

* * *

Izuna was ready the next morning, when Madara arrived with an exhausted patrol in tow.

"Madara, you're back!"

He grabbed Madara by the arm and started dragging him toward the clan head's house. (In a dignified manner, of course.) His brother's stormy expression dropped into complete befuddlement as Izuna didn't acknowledge the missing letter at all, but instead started up a one-sided conversation. Izuna counted it as a win.

"You know you missed quite a bit, brother."

Izuna hummed, dragging Madara away from the confused patrol with a smile. Hikaku sighed and began debriefing the patrol as the brothers left the clearing. Izuna kept his voice cheerful as he walked.

"The Bastard sent us a letter, the Tree sent us a gift of sorts, and our clanmates nearly restarted the fighting with the Senju over a piece of paper."

Madara stiffened, his mouth opening and closing, but he kept walking. (Probably because Izuna was still dragging him.)

"But, we also have an elder on our side now, and the clan is sort of considering making a deal with the Senju, so it didn't end as a complete disaster."

At that, Madara didn't quite relax, but he did start moving on his own power toward the house. Madara pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why do I feel that I'm going to have a headache after I get an explanation of how this all happened."

Izuna smiled.

"Because you will, obviously. Mine didn't go away until this morning."

Madara groaned, but kept walking.

* * *

Madara did indeed, get a headache.

It happened after reading Hashirama's apology letter, and somewhere in between rereading Izuna's Rival's business proposal for the seventh time and unsealing the Tree's armor.

(The apology letter had been stuffed full of _emotions,_ and there were _apologies_ or questions about Izuna's _health_ and _how he was doing_ every other line. Izuna was glad he held off on reading it. He might have burned it if he knew what it was, and then Madara wouldn't have been able to read it and relax the way he had earlier.)

But that wasn't the end of Madara's confusion. Halfway through the resulting discussion of future plans, Elder Naka asked to be let in. Izuna and Madara both knew that she wanted to help, so they let her in. Instead of helping strategize, however, she only sashayed into the room, resealed the armor, then took the armor scroll and left, smiling serenely every moment of the way. Izuna and Madara were both too confused to put up much of a fuss. She thanked them from the doorway before leaving completely.

She came back that afternoon with written agreements from several other elders, and Izuna was happy to let her manage the armor after that.

(It wasn't like he could actually wear it, anyway.)

Izuna kept up his end of the bargain with elder Naka by pairing a group of his more vengeance-obsessed clansmen with a trading group whenever one came back to the compound, along with one or two fighters he knew supported peace.

He gave them their orders and didn't let anyone leave until they knew that engaging the Senju or Senju allies in any way, shape, or form would be considered treason against the clan and punished accordingly.

_"Do not make me need to hunt you down."_

Izuna had been deadly serious during those talks and they all knew it.

* * *

A week after the clan meeting, Izuna could finally go on missions without Madara having a heart attack. His ribs were undeniably healed, and keeping a fighter off duty in the compound was a waste no matter how you looked at it. And so Izuna left the elders in elder Naka's very capable hands, and set off with a group headed to trade with the Shiranui.

The blacksmiths had been in an uproar since the Shiranui clan's most recent request: "as many senbon as you can make."

It had led to just over fifteen barrels of senbon, and nothing else, being packed for the trade. Izuna couldn't remember anyone, even the Uchiha, needing, let alone having, that many senbon. But the Shiranui wanted as many senbon as the Uchiha smiths could make, so the smiths had made senbon.

(They had also taken the request as a challenge and worked through the night when they could.)

It was an advantage of his rank that he could pick the interesting missions to go on, but he also had a side angle to this one - there was a businessman that had taken the rumor bait and requested an Uchiha scribe. His name was Yasaku. On the older side, cautious, but hungry to snap up new and unclaimed talent.

Well... Yasaku didn't know that he was hiring an Uchiha, but it wasn't anything a skilled henge couldn't fix.

* * *

As Izuna oversaw the exchange - the Shiranui traders haggling for prices with the Uchiha traders - he inclined his head to the Shiranui clan representative. The woman nodded back at him, a smirk on her face as she watched her traders exchange various teas and supplies for a truly exorbitant amount of senbon. When the blacksmiths had taken the request as a challenge, they thought the Shiranui were underestimating them. They unanimously decided that sleep was unnecessary when their smithing pride was on the line. Izuna had needed to put guards on watch duty to make sure the smiths slept at least once every other day. Sleep-deprived Uchiha paired with white-hot flames never ended well for anyone.

Even if the Uchiha as a clan were moderately fireproof, there was no reason to set fire to buildings on accident. That would just be embarassing.

But now the Shiranui traders kept piling more and more senbon on their side. Izuna watched in disbelief as the Uchiha trader brought out the ninth barrel of senbon, and the Shiranui trader grinned like it was a special holiday, just for him. The Shiranui didn't even _flinch_ when he ended up trading a crate of Aburame silk for the barrel.

Then the tenth barrel came out, and the Shiranui happily traded over two crates filled with colorful inks and fine brush-pens. The Uchiha traders were looking mildly confused now, which was at least better than Izuna's open mouth.

Izuna tried to subtly dispel whatever genjutsu this was, with no effect.

There had to be a joke somewhere here - the Shiranui escorts were chuckling now. Another barrel was brought out, and the Uchiha trader targeted a box of luxury teas for the next deal.

Seeing as the traders were back to haggling, Izuna decided to move on with his own mission.

He patted Tori on the back before dropping into an alley. A quick henge and shunshin away and he was officially Akihide, arriving for scribing duties for Yasaku-sama.

There was a relatively brief meet and greet where Yasaku tried to figure out what Izuna-Akihide was angling for with this job. Izuna put on the act of an inexperienced but confident young scribe who only wanted to prove himself and was soon led into the storage room. The scrolls to be copied were laid out on the table already, and a well-dressed servant stood at the ready for any requests he might have.

Izuna gave the room a quick scan with his Sharingan hidden under his henge and then got to work.

Absently glancing back and forth between the new and old scrolls while keeping the pace of his writing steadily slow was an exercise in restraint. But, it did give him time to mentally review what else was stored in this store-room.

The scrolls stored in the wall cubbies were marked by year and season, with numbers listing what had to be the order written on the scrolls that didn't have a cubby to themselves. Trade deals? Most likely, but there were far too many filled scrolls for this to be only the businessman's trades. One doesn't simply fill up a cubby with a scroll for every day of summer ten years ago.

Izuna focused back on the scrolls at hand - they were from fifteen years ago and looked to be part of another group of scrolls too large to have been the businessman's ledgers for the season.

He finished the first scroll (it was a ledger of purchases), then the second (another ledger of purchases, except that there were side notes about visitors to the town). It looked like the Yasaku was trying to keep an eye on any competition.

Between the second and third, Yasaku came down and insisted that he and Izuna have tea. What followed was a cat and mouse game of future prospects for scribing jobs.

It seemed that copying two scrolls before the end of the day was faster than expected.

* * *

Sighing to himself, Izuna wandered out of the town. All the scrolls had been finished, and the businessman was excited to hire "Akihide" again - after he had more rest and time away from his studies to spare, of course.

Izuna made sure to name-drop the two other cover identities that he and Hikaku had come up with before leaving, and with any luck, Yasaku would spread the word to his allies, who would then spread the news further.

_Or Yasaku might decide that this level of scribing is worth hoarding to himself._

Izuna wasn't going to tell the man that he had gotten fed up with the required slowness, copied everything on the table, and then set up a bunshin and genjutsu to 'work' through the night. His decision paid off, though. Izuna spent the extra time wandering around the other scrolls, scanning over them with his Sharingan as he went. He now had records of the comings and goings of this town, ready to be added to the Uchiha's records.

The resulting headache felt like his head was being slowly crushed by bricks at times, but it felt better after sleeping.

(It was a successful intelligence-gathering mission, made even more so by the fact that his contract with Yasaku didn't explicitly say that he _couldn't_ keep the information he learned on the job.)

Dropping his Akihide henge, he set a henge over his Sharingan to make them seem deactivated and doubled back into the town. The main roadway led him to the traders, who were chatting animatedly with an innkeeper as they loaded up their supplies. Izuna gave the rest of the Uchiha escorts the signal for 'success' with a grin before joining the traders.

It was only an instinctive chill down his back that made him look down the street. He saw red eyes, and jerked himself into a defensive stance.

He angled his way in between the traders and his Rival, dropping the henge on his Sharingan as he went. The traders flinched and retreated toward the safety of the inn entrance. They recognized the White Demon, but they had an escort of six Uchiha fighters including Izuna. Running would be pointless.

With a quick hand sign to the other escorts to 'stand-down' and 'do not approach,' he watched his Rival walk closer.

(His Rival was alone, as far as Izuna could see.)

* * *

The Senju stopped a respectable distance away - close enough to talk but too far to attack across quickly. Izuna narrowed his eyes. _He has a plan and a purpose here._

_(What was this? Meet the Bastard month?)_

"Senju."

"Uchiha."

His Rival's voice was neutral.

"What do you want."

The Bastard shifted for a glance at the Uchiha traders standing in a defensive formation behind Izuna. Izuna hissed and stepped forward, blocking his Rival's view. Unless his Rival had a very good reason, then he didn't need to talk with _any_ Uchiha right now. _Especially_ the traders. Izuna kept loosely still. If it was an attack, then the Bastard was severely outnumbered. And if it wasn't an attack, then getting his clanmates overly worried was not the best course of action.

 _We got the scroll, the clan just needs time and space to make our decision. Time and space that you have_ not _been giving us, Bastard._

Izuna frowned as the Senju slowly drew out his sword. Izuna knew how his Rival fought, and never had he ever seen the Senju hold his sword this daintily. His Rival's grip was all wrong, too.

_So he's not here for a confrontation... What is my Rival playing at? Surely he knows what this looks like to everyone._

The traders shuffled behind him and he could see, in the distance and sitting on a roof, the Shiranui escorts take notice of the Senju.

(They didn't look very happy to see his Rival here.)

Izuna's eyes narrowed, his grip tight on the handle of his own sword as he stared at the Senju.

His Rival was pulling the sword out with barely any force.

Izuna drew his own sword out into a defensive stance before the Senju's sword was half-way drawn. He didn't make a move forward or backward, but he was ready if the Senju tried anything.

The Senju froze at the movement but resumed pulling his sword out. This time even slower than before. There was a slight shake to his movements. (Barely there, barely there, and then the shaking stopped.)

_If he tries to fight, he won't win. He knows this._

_(He knew it before coming over.)_

His Rival was doing his best to be unthreatening, and Hikaku had come back safely, so Izuna watched. And waited. And gave the Bastard a chance.

The traders behind Izuna shifted uneasily when the sword was nearly out, but with a quick hand-sign towards Tori, he was able to signal her to group them up more securely.

Just in case.

Everyone was vibrating slightly by the time the Senju had drawn his sword, either from adrenaline or stress, but the Senju didn't stop there.

He slowly - ever so slowly - kneeled down to set his sword on the ground.

Izuna froze.

Then his Rival looked up. Straight at the traders.

Izuna felt his breath quicken. He understood now, in a terrible sort of understanding. He understood the 'what' of the matter.

But he didn't understand 'why now?' or even the 'how does this idiot expect to get out of this alive?!' portion of this idiotic plan. Had the Tree put him up to it? Izuna's thoughts ground to a halt as his Rival spoke. It was soft, but easily loud enough for the traders to hear.

"I apologize, for the death I have caused to you and yours. I was mistaken, in that I believed you to be only warriors."

Robotic. Rehearsed. The Senju took a shaky breath.

_(What had brought this on?)_

"I do not ask for forgiveness, for I would not be able to forgive my behavior in another."

Another shaky breath. The Senju didn't want to be there.

Izuna scowled. He didn't want the Senju here, either.

But here his Rival was, doing something so _stupidly_ idiotic he would have thought it a genjutsu had his Sharingan not been active. If it was Madara doing something like this he would have long slapped some sense into him, but that wasn't an option here.

(He thought his Rival was _better_ than this sort of self-sacrificial idiocy.)

(Well, he also thought his Rival was better than helping give away the Senju clan head's armor, but...)

Both their hands were tied now. His Rival took a shallow breath.

"I ask that you consider, if not a trade, then simply a truce with the Senju."

The traders behind him were quiet and he could only imagine the confusion on their faces. He could only hope that no one would make any sudden moves. That they would follow orders and not start an incident.

Because he couldn't kill the Bastard now. Not when Madara's dream was starting to become visible. (And not after Madara had subtly snuck the Tree's apology letter away.) Who knows how the Senju might react?

(Memories. The Genjutsu Senju's vengeance, the Tree's brief fury that gave way to resignation, and Madara's broken hope. Possibilities that weren't an option now.)

(And the Bastard was... not a _friend_. But also not an _enemy_. They had the same goals - Izuna was just less idiotic in how he tried to attain those goals.)

Izuna inwardly grimaced. He needed to defuse the situation.

(Quickly - the Shiranui were moving closer.)

* * *

Izuna repeated the signals for 'do not approach' and stand-down,' adding 'non-hostile' to the mix.

"As an unrelated question to this wonderful situation," Izuna took the moment to level his Rival with the best glare he could manage. His Rival glanced up, slightly shocked. Izuna continued.

"What the ever-loving fuck were you Senju thinking just handing Hikaku a scroll in the middle of his patrol? A bird could have worked just as well, or even a civilian."

His Rival blinked confusedly, still kneeling with his sword on the ground, and the Shiranui escort slowed to a stop on a roof two buildings down the road.

"Also, who authorized sending us the Tree's armor? Does he have another set that I've never seen?"

"Ah."

"Yes. Ah. Should I consider this another instance of Senju idiocy?"

"Anija wished to repay his debt, and insisted-" His Rival's face scrunched up slightly in distaste. _Good. It was the Tree's idea._

(If it had been his Tobirama's idea, then Izuna might have had to shake the man and ask how the Senju were still alive when they had so little common sense. Izuna could live with the Tree being the way he was, but not anyone else.)

Izuna nodded.

"Good. It was just the Tree's idiocy."

His Rival froze, and then looked at him strangely.

(Izuna didn't need to explain his thought process to a Senju who let his brother get away with insanity - or even _supported_ the insanity.)

Izuna frowned.

(Him supporting Madara's peace was _completely_ different. Izuna would throw senbon at anyone who implied otherwise.)

(If the Uchiha still _had_ any senbon after the trade with the Shiranui.)

"Well, Bastard, is that all you came here for? To repeat the truce offer?"

_Because Kami knows the traders are either too terrified or too angry right now to honestly accept any apology from you, Rival._

Izuna could hear the traders behind him shift. Tobirama picked his sword up, sheathed it carefully, and gave a jerky nod.

"Yes."

And then, after one last bow, he turned and left. Walking the entire way.

(Izuna was impressed that he didn't look behind him even once.)

(Even if he was a sensor.)

* * *

"We're just... letting him go? He was trapped!"

"Yes. And maybe."

"Why aren't we hunting him?!"

Izuna fixed the fuming man with a glare. His answer was deadpan.

"The traders are all in one piece, we haven't lost any supplies, and no one died. I'd like to keep it that way."

Izuna paused, then looked around the group pointedly.

"And there's no reason to pick a fight with someone who obviously doesn't want to fight."

(Or with someone who is actively trying to apologize, no matter how terribly they planned it.)

The group was quiet after that, finishing the rounds and starting on their way back to the compound. Izuna gave the Shiranui a quick wave before leaving view of the town, which they dubiously returned.


	18. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

It was quiet, the trip back to the clan compound.

The traders had spent most of the return trip in hesitant silence, while the patrol spent their time keeping watch on high alert. Suspicion had turned to disbelief when Izuna's Rival didn't show his face in a sneak attack.

(There wasn't even a hint of Senju activity, all the way into Uchiha territory. Izuna's clansmen didn't know what to do with this new situation.)

With the compound walls in sight, Izuna released the patrol and made a beeline for the clan head's house.

Madara was in the office, his eyebags lighter than they had been in years.

* * *

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, life didn't dramatically change after his Rival's (attempted) apology.

There was a low hum of conversation in the compound now, and there were fewer hostile glares sent his way, but nothing else really changed.

Madara and Hikaku sent him more concerned glances than usual, though, and Izuna couldn't quite figure out why.

Izuna assigned himself to missions whenever possible, and had already gotten two more scribing requests. One from Yasaku, and another from an unaffiliated trader. During his downtime, he copied down what he could from his memories of Yasaku's scrolls, trained, or patrolled the compound.

_Maybe Madara and Hikaku are worried about me taking on so much work?_

Izuna frowned. They really shouldn't be. He was sending _everyone_ out on as many missions as he could find, not just himself. And the scribing wasn't strenuous so much as it was time-consuming. And confusing. Yasaku's records had different numbers than those already in the clan records.

It wouldn't be concerning if the reported numbers were lower. Most of the Uchiha patrols sent out around those times came back missing around half of the group. But the numbers were higher.

Consistently higher.

And in addition to that, almost every patrol reported by Yasaku during the busy seasons was listed in the clan archive as attacked and killed by Senju.

It was... confusing, but Izuna could see where the patrols might have used bunshin to make the groups appear larger and more dangerous. He could also remember a general consensus in his clan that Butsuma tended toward abrupt, vicious campaigns.

_Butsuma the child killer. Known for hating anything remotely related to the Uchiha._

There were reports of Senju in equal numbers throughout the records, so the busy seasons being a result of one of Butsuma's campaigns made sense.

_But it still doesn't explain why_ every _group had extra members... it's not like we have a standard procedure to use bunshin for intimidation-_

Breaking him out of his thoughts, Madara's hawk flew by his ear with a screech. It landed next to the study window and started preening - as if it hadn't just flown out of its way to try to deafen him.

Izuna gave it a long, cool glare.

The little demon ignored him completely and continued preening.

Izuna's eye twitched.

_And Madara wonders why I don't like his birds._

He let out a sigh.

Izuna would get back to the records later. He needed to see what Madara had to say, considering that he was scheduled to return this evening. Izuna cautiously took the message scroll from the bird, which was still preening itself, and unrolled it.

It was a simple note - Madara had been delayed by some squabble between villages and was in the process of mediating an agreement between the two. He needed Izuna to take his place in the upcoming escort mission to Tanzaku-Gai.

Izuna huffed to himself, smiling. Of course Madara would decide to fix the issue himself. It wasn't as if the villages had disagreements regularly, and regularly figured them out themselves.

(Though "figuring out" those disagreements _did_ tend to end in hiring ninja from nearby clans... Maybe his brother had a point?)

_I can cover for his group easily enough. Just rearrange a couple schedules and shorten the downtime between missions until Madara gets back._ Izuna would take Madara's place in the escort mission, and Hikaku would take Izuna's place in his scheduled patrol. Even with the extra patrol, Hikaku would still have time left over before his next mission.

Izuna wrote his return letter, tied it to the demon bird's leg, and then set off to inform the rest of the clan. There was going to be a change of schedule.

The next morning saw Izuna leading his small patrol to Tanzaku-Gai. Hikaku seemed more worried than usual, subtly asking whether Izuna was feeling alright. His eyes flickered far too often to Izuna's own eyes - toward the henge - and so Izuna just plowed through Hikaku's concerns. Instead of trying to convince Hikaku that he was fine, Izuna donned his armor - freshly repaired courtesy of grumpy blacksmiths - and gave Hikaku the updated schedule.

(He would _show_ Hikaku that he was fine.)

Izuna didn't look back as he left the compound. He didn't want to chance Hikaku using his Sharingan and dispelling the henge.

* * *

They made good time, and reached Tanzaku-Gai on the third day. After a brief meeting with their client - an elderly white-haired noblewoman who insisted on being called Lady Shiroki – they set off for her estate. If she wasn't making a snide comment on what had to be a rival noble or ordering her retinue of servants about from her palanquin, or having the occasional coughing fit, she was a quiet observer of the trip.

They were halfway to the woman's estate when a group of five people walked out from behind an outcrop.

Izuna quickly took stock of their appearance. White-hair but no signs of aging. White clothes with purple sashes. Red dots above their eyes, in the noble style. Hair parted in a zig-zagged pattern. Walked like ninja. No visible leader of the group. They seemed... familiar? But he didn't know the clan.

There was something... off about their eyes. (And their matching grins.)

Were they hired by the noblewoman's rivals?

Izuna didn't know what clan they were from, and he didn't like it at all. He dropped the henge on his Sharingan and the interlopers _chuckled_. None of them were focused on the noblewoman's palanquin, though the servants carrying it looked nervous.

He stiffened.

_That reaction - are they not here for the noblewoman?_

Izuna heard hisses of anger as the rest of his patrol dropped into fighting stances. He didn't object. These people weren't Senju allies, and from the looks on their faces, they weren't looking for friends either. They weren't from any clan that he had heard of in the Land of Fire - they should not be here.

Four against five was unfortunate, but with Izuna there the odds were more evened. The group of interlopers moved first, but Izuna's clansmen were faster.

(They just didn't count on all the _bones_.)

* * *

The interlopers dashed forward, and white spears erupted from the ground.

Izuna _moved,_ leaping around the spear jutsu to throw flaming kunai at the enemies' throats. His clansmen threw their own weapons, laced with poison, elemental chakra, or strung with razor-thin ninja wire. Iesue, the taijutsu specialist, dashed forward to get in range.

And then another wave of spears hit, trapping Iesue on all sides while they skewered him. He had been _just barely_ too slow-

Tori shouted curses as she dodged around the spears.

(It had been less than a second, and now Iesue was dead or dying and the ground was _not safe_.)

The interlopers didn't even blink at the kunai and shuriken headed their way. White spears grew from their arms - _bones, they're using bones_ \- and deflected Izuna's kunai. The bones kept growing until the thieves were covered with bone spikes. One of them cut off Iesue's head as they passed his corpse. Izuna snarled and flickered closer, slamming into the closest enemy.

(Whatever they were here for, they needed to _die_.)

Akinao and Tori fought back-to-back against two enemies, while Aka blasted the last one with fire.

Izuna slipped around the bone spears, cutting at two of the attackers' as he went. Their bones deflected most sword strikes, but if he were to aim the point of his bade _just-so-_

Izuna felt the bone spears grate against his armor, and a sharp pain to his side, but his blade point slipped through it all. It dug straight into the man's jugular, and then deeper. _They cannot guard where there are no bones._ Izuna ripped his sword out to parry a bone spike, leaving the dead man to fall, and turned to his other opponent.

The man _smiled_ as bones ripped from the earth. Izuna was forced to put distance between them. He scanned the battlefield to see that Akinao and Tori holding their own, but Aka was out of her depth. The bone-user fighting her was growing a giant bone axe that doubled as a shield, and seemed impervious to any sort of jutsu she threw at it. Izuna flickered away from the man and toward the woman fighting Aka. She was using her bones as a shield rather than armor, meaning her stomach and back were very much open.

A perfect opportunity.

His sword cut through cloth and skin and muscle, and the woman turned toward him with a vicious glare. Even bleeding out, she ran at him with her axe raised high. It was just too bad for her that Izuna had no intention of sticking around.

He flickered to Aka and they angled their way to Akinao and Tori, dodging the smiling man's bone spears as they went.

They were nearly at the two when Akinao lost his footing and took a bone spear to the shoulder. Tori took up a war cry and fire blazed in the clearing. She pulled Akinao off the spear before more could hit, but he was already bleeding heavily.

They needed to end this fight _now_.

(He needed all the bone-users in one place, and he needed Tori and Akinao and Aka _far_ _away._ )

He dashed between Tori and the two other bone-users. "Guard the Client!"

Tori nodded, and Aka followed. Izuna turned to the two bone-users, who were grinning like rabid dogs. Twins in their battle-lust. The smiling man was still around here somewhere - _there_. _Lurking in the trees._

Plan set, Izuna charged the two bone-users, dealing as many injuries as he could. They dropped into a battle rhythm and Izuna dashed away as if to escape. Right toward the smiling man. The twins grinned and followed, eyes wide and hungry. They thought he was trapped.

More bone spikes that he needed to dodge, and a harsh cough from nearby. One of the twins. (Familiar - why does that cough sound so familiar?)

He dodged a swipe, flickered away, and led the twins farther from the palanquin and his injured clansmen.

Then he turned and activated his Mangekyou. "Ameterasu!" There was a brief moment of surprise on the bone-users' faces; it changed to determination at the sight of black flames, and then fear when they realized that it devoured _everything_. Izuna watched, panting slightly, as the cursed bone-users _burned_.

He felt blood dripping down his face and side, his chakra was low, and he could feel a migraine coming on, but the enemies were dead.

He dragged himself toward the road. He'd need to seal Iesue's body away, and Akinao desperately needed medical attention.

He would also need to talk with the noblewoman. They were not continuing until he had backup.

At the road, Tori was wrapping Akinao's wound even as red bled through each new layer, and Aka was shaking from chakra exhaustion. Izuna would carry Akinao to the nearest town and they would camp there. If the bone-users hadn't been here targeting the noblewoman, then they either had land nearby, or were targeting clan members. Either option was a sign that Izuna's clansmen were not safe here. And with their injuries and exhaustion they needed safety before all else.

"Lady Shiroki, we will retreat back to-"

Bone skewers erupted from the ground.

Izuna _dodged_.

(Akinao was already unconscious from bloodloss or pain, he made no noise when six bone spears stabbed up through his chest. Tori was trapped under Akinao and couldn't move in time; four of the six pierced and pinned her in place. Aka was too exhausted to react; a bone spear pierced her throat and cut off any noise she might have made.)

The noblewoman stepped out of her palanquin while the servants cowered. Her eyes cooly swept over him. Her white hair stood out like a beacon and Izuna cursed himself for not seeing the connection. (For not seeing the _family resemblance_.)

"Kill him."

Four other figures stepped into view, all with vicious grins on their faces.

* * *

He was just about to flicker to the palanquin - To _take her_ _deceitful head off_ \- when a kunai charged with wind chakra buried itself into the tree next to him. Izuna ducked away from it on instinct. (He recognized this kunai. He hated it with a passion.)

Then there was a flash of light and his Rival was behind him. (Why the fuck was he here?!) Still breathing heavily, Izuna didn't look away from the bone-users as they advanced. He held back a flinch when he felt the Bastard move right next to him.

"Uchiha."

Izuna turned to glare at his Rival, keeping the bone-users in his field of vision. He blinked at the sight.

His Rival was bloody - so incredibly bloody, with dents and cuts and holes in his armor and - _had he been impaled?!_

"So the little Senju escaped his trap, only to trap himself again? How polite of him."

_He had been targeted by the bone-users too._

His Rival brought his sword up - facing away from Izuna.

"I propose a deal, Uchiha."

Izuna looked between Tobirama (bloody and furious) and the bone-users (disgustingly happy).

"Yes?"

"It seems we both have a common enemy."

Izuna hummed and turned fully toward the bone-users. His eyes narrowed.

_It seems we do._

"I accept. These filthy _bastards_ need to _die_."

The noblewoman sneered.

"A Senju and an Uchiha working together? Rather pointless, don't you think. The Kaguya clan is superior to those weak lineages."

She delicately dropped her bone spears back into the ground, and Tori, Nakanao, and Aka all fell in a limp pile. Iesue's body was still lying in the roadway behind the Kaguya, headless.

Izuna snarled and strengthened his grip on his sword.

Five against two. He would _end_ these filthy Kaguya.

* * *

The first time he fought the Kaguya, he hadn't counted on the bones.

This time, he hadn't counted on there being _reinforcements_.

Not for him, and not for Tobirama.

Reinforcements for the Kaguya bastards.

(And he and Tobirama had been _so close_ to killing them all at one point.)

Izuna ducked beneath a bone axe to stab a Kaguya in the throat. Tobirama used a water dragon to drill a hole through the axe and axe-wielder alike.

(They had been close before five more jumped out of the trees, startling them both. Now the fight was an endless circle of dodging and killing and losing ground.)

Before the bodies of the dead Kaguya could hit the forest floor, two new Kaguya dropped into the fray. Izuna grit his teeth and fought the growing sense of pointlessness. He was tired, and his migraine made concentrating difficult - though that could also be because of the chakra exhaustion he could feel _everywhere_ now. Why were the Kaguya only joining the fight after another one of them died? How many _were_ there?

(And how could they hide from a sensor? They weren't spies, they were brutes - vicious, fight-hungry brutes.)

Izuna heard a gasp from behind him and hissed - the Kaguya didn't gasp. Izuna abandoned his plans of stabbing a particularly bloodthirsty Kaguya in favor of defense.

(It was an unspoken rule. If one of them fell, the other wouldn't last long afterward. There were simply too many Kaguya to fight alone.)

(Izuna would forever deny actually caring that his Rival survived.)

When he saw the issue he paled. Their time was up. Izuna parried a bone sword.

"Fuck. _Fuck_. Why the fuck aren't you healing yourself, Senju?!"

(Nevermind that Tobirama had already healed from being disemboweled and was _missing an arm now_.)

Tobirama didn't answer. The red spread farther down.

More bone shards came, and Izuna dodged and weaved around them. Tobirama's breathing grew shallow, but the Senju was still moving. Still fighting.

But then the thing he had dreaded happened. Izuna dodged but his Rival was too slow. Izuna could only watch as Tobirama was impaled from behind on a massive spike of bone.

He had wanted the Senju dead in the past, but not _now_. And now he was bleeding out and Izuna _couldn't do anything about it._

(His Mangekyo Sharingan spun.)

Izuna twisted around another bone spike, the iron taste of death in his mouth. He looked up and something inside him stilled.

There were more Kaguya arriving from the forest - from all directions. And there were more standing in the trees above.

(This wasn't a small group, this was an entire clan, turned out to hunt.)

Izuna sucked in a painful breath.

(He and Tobirama had been _hunted_.)

Izuna breathed heavily, slipping around bones to edge his way closer to Tobirama.

Five of the Kaguya were deadly. Twenty were a death sentence.

(He wouldn't get out of this alive.)

(But he could try get information before he died.)

(There was no way to know if his... _other_ Mangekyo ability would work again. It wasn't the same day and it wasn't anywhere even close to the compound, but he needed to _try_.)

"What do you want?"

Izuna's question came out as a hiss. The Kaguya stilled, then started walking slowly toward him and his impaled Rival.

(If he could kill the deceitful bitch before she betrayed them...)

They didn't even bother with using the bone spikes anymore. They had won.

_This time._

_(...It has to work. It **needs** to work-)_

"The little Uchiha is afraid?" Chuckles from all around. Izuna backed up to his Rival.

A lone Kaguya, fevered and eyes manic, shouted from the nearest group. "The little Uchiha and little Senju shouldn't have messed with Kaguya-hime's plans, if they wanted to live!"

Izuna frowned. _Kaguya-hime? The fake noblewoman?_ Tobirama coughed - a painfully _wet_ cough. The Senju's breathing grew shallower.

Izuna narrowed his eyes at the fevered Kaguya. "Our clans will hunt you _all_ down for this."

The man only chuckled at him.

And then the traitorous noblewoman spoke up, walking smoothly to the front. Izuna felt something inside him balk as an inky blackness twisted out of her eye (wrong _wrong_ **_wrong_**!-). It grew to cover her entire face.

"Why would they hunt us when they need to avenge their heirs? ...One betrayed by the other... how _sad_."

The thing sounded distinctly _un_ -sad at the idea of Izuna and Tobirama's deaths.

It looked like it was made of shadows, but not the Nara kind (or maybe it _was_ the Nara kind - the kind of shadows that rumor said could strangle and _choke_ ), and it had glowing yellow eyes, flat like coins. Its mouth was a jagged grin and its voice was a smooth twang. ( _Is that expression satisfied? No. That was smug._ ) There was no trace of the woman's face left underneath it.

Izuna could barely hear Tobirama's breathing behind him - he didn't have much time.

"What makes you think that that will work?"

The void grin grew wider. She- _it_ stepped closer.

"Why wouldn't it work again? The Senju and the Uchiha have always been gullible."

_"Again" and "always," it says..._

Izuna grit his teeth, glaring at the shadow-thing.

(Yasaku's records. The reports of Uchiha warbands with faulty numbers. The ones that never came back - _blamed on the Senju_. It could have been the same for the Senju warband sightings as well.)

_This..._ thing _has done this before - interfered with the Senju and Uchiha clans._

_How many other deaths caused by this shadow were blamed on the other clan?_

Izuna backed up further until - _there._ Tobirama was in the corner of his vision, feebly fumbling with a broken shard of bone. (His Rival's hands were bleeding too, now.)

He put a kunai in Tobirama's hands instead.

The shadow thing smirked, then spoke.

"How _nice_... Now die."

The Kaguya lunged.

Izuna instinctively took a step back. His Mangekyo spun.

He hissed, "Ameterasu."

Black flames engulfed the small area around him.

(He didn't have enough chakra left to burn the clearing, and his head felt split in two, but he kept the flames burning.)

He felt someone - _Tobirama_ \- grab onto his arm as he slumped into unconsciousness.

(Or near-unconsciousness? Izuna hoped the screams he could hear were the Kaguya and shadow-thing, and not just his own memories.)

Izuna felt a brief cool sensation, but it left quickly. The grip on his arm stayed, though.

(Hmmm. Tobirama should probably let go. Izuna wanted Tobirama to heal himself after this. Use his stupid teleporting jutsu. Tell Madara what happened.)

He could feel the heat of the Ameterasu flames even as he felt himself drifting away. There were foggy mushed voices, or a voice? He couldn't understand them either way.

Then there was darkness.

* * *

Izuna opened his eyes to trees above him and _cursed_.


	19. Enemy of my Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Kaiseaya!

Izuna hissed as he rolled to his feet. He had a migraine and the space behind his eyes _ached_.

(Why was his migraine so severe?)

He glared at the palanquin.

His clan had been _lied_ to. _Decieved_. _Tricked_ into war by a slimy shadow for its own gain.

And now the shadow was trying to trick them again.

(How many Senju atrocities from the past weren't actually _Senju_ atrocities?)

Somewhere nearby, there was a patrol of Senju about to be attacked by the Kaguya, who were somehow stealthy enough to sneak up on his Rival. And there were enough of them to decimate a smaller clan. Numbers like those could wipe out several patrols, let alone _one_.

Tobirama was going to die if Izuna didn't warn him.

They were going to pin Tobirama's death on him or one of his clansmen if Izuna didn't warn the Senju away. They only needed to kill one of the two groups for their plan to work, and Izuna refused to let those traitorous liars win.

(The shadow-thing had tricked his and Tobirama's clans for years. How much earlier could Madara's dream have happened if _it_ had never stuck its disgusting claws in Uchiha-Senju business?)

So Izuna needed to find Tobirama, and the shadow-thing needed to die. (It was _going_ to die - he would have it no other way.)

But he had no idea where Tobirama was - only the memory of that cursed kunai cutting into the tree. If he traced the trajectory, it left Tobirama's location as somewhere northwest of the road. _Returning from a mission, possibly?_

Izuna heard Tori drop in from a nearby tree, ready to report her uneventful watch. Just like she had yesterday.

He pulled out his sword - slowly, and advanced on the palanquin. He kept his chakra still and calm. He was going to kill the lying bitch. She was going to die. It was simple.

"Captain?"

He raised a hand to stop any further questions and used a genjutsu to answer, just in case the shadow-thing was listening.

" _I need you to trust me_."

(The shadow-thing-woman was alone right now, and he wouldn't give her the chance to call for her reinforcements.)

She cast a genjutsu of her own.

" _Did something happen?_ "

Izuna glared at the palanquin. He cast another genjutsu.

" _That is no civilian noblewoman - this mission is a trap. Get Akinao and Aka up. I don't know where the rest of the fake noblewoman's clan is lurking_."

Tori paled, face still twisted in confusion, but padded softly over to the bedrolls. Izuna let out a slow breath as he hid a kunai up his sleeve. He only had one chance to kill the woman-shadow-thing quickly.

(He could still see bones and bodies everywhere.)

With a quick genjutsu, his eyes were back to black.

" _Is she part of a clan?_ "

It was Tori again.

Izuna sent his genjutsu response and walked up to the palanquin as casually as he could manage.

" _Yes. She's a Kaguya. Their bones are strong enough to block steel and resistant to elemental Jutsu. They can grow their bones out as armor or weapons._ "

He nodded politely at the Kaguya's servants, a mirror image of yesterday's morning report. Just like yesterday, the "noblewoman" drifted outside for her daily "breath of fresh air." It was probably when she sent updates on his squad's position. She gave him a haughty nod and turned away.

He interrupted her moment of quiet before she could fully dismiss him.

(He knew what she was up to.)

(But she didn't know that he knew.)

* * *

"Something has come up, I'm afraid. We need to return to our lands immediately. We can reimburse you for your lost time, Lady Shiroki, but we really must go."

_I figured you out and I refuse to go any further. I know you are not who you say you are._

"What has come up that makes you break your deal and leave me all alone in these woods?"

_ Nobles aren't left alone after they hire ninja for a job. _

He signaled for his squad to surround the area and watch the "client."

"Clan business. We can escort you back to Tanzaku-Gai, but no further."

_I know you are not a civilian noble. We're leaving. The trap ahead of us shall never be sprung. Unless you give yourself away, Kaguya._

There was a flicker of loathing that Izuna saw on her face. There and gone so quickly only the Sharingan could have caught it. Izuna looked between the rest of his team - who also had their Sharingan active. Tori was solemn and Akinao was suspicious. They had seen that flicker.

(Noble clients could get annoyed at a delay, or outraged, but that loathing? Loathing was reserved for _enemies_.)

(Aka and Iesue hadn't seen her anger. Izuna hoped that they would follow orders and stay away - out of range of the bone spears.)

The Kaguya was silent for a long moment as she gathered herself together. Then her face was as calm as ever.

"Very well, I will follow you back to Tanzaku-Gai."

_ I will play along until I see an opportunity. _

Izuna nodded.

"I thank you for your understanding."

_Then so will I._

He signaled his squad to be ready to dodge, and turned back toward Tanzaku-Gai - and away from the "noblewoman."

She didn't waste any time.

Bone spears stabbed out of the ground beneath Izuna, and it was only his prior experience that let him dodge them all.

(Izuna breathed a sigh of relief. She had targeted him first, which let the rest of his squad scatter into their attack formation.)

(The servants were much less lucky.)

To his side, he signaled for Tori to use capture protocol, and for everyone to stay out of range until she was immobilized.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Akinao nod, and Iesue pull out his shuriken.

Tori was already sneaking around higher in the trees.

A ninja-wire-threaded senbon missed the Kaguya's head by millimeters as she dodged, and hit the tree behind her. She sneered and grew her bones into a giant drill, but before she could finish, dozens more senbon came raining down from above - all threaded with ninja wire. Izuna grinned as she tried to duck and weave around the senbon, catching herself on the near-invisible web.

Realizing her predicament, she growled and thrashed against the wires. Bones grew out of her ribs, back, and arms, raking across the wire and in some places cutting it completely, but more senbon were always raining down, wrapping wires around her.

With a strangled shout of rage, she began to force her way closer to Izuna, but because most of the wires held, her struggling only let Tori string the woman up tighter.

(Izuna kept his smug grin to himself. The lying Kaguya was caught, and his team was alive. He wanted to give Tori a hug for always overstocking on ninja wire.)

But then the Kaguya brought up her bone spears and destroyed the anchors for the senbon. Several trees were gouged off of the ground within the blink of a Sharingan eye, and Izuna cursed as she started dragging the ninja wire _with_ her instead of it trapping her. He dashed forward, and she grinned.

The ground within a dozen meters of the Kaguya was filled entirely with stabbing bone spears that Izuna weaved through carefully. Her grin grew wider the closer he got. The bones kept growing thicker and thicker from her ribs and arms. They were already overlapping to form bone armor, all she needed to do was grow them thick enough to be impervious and a quick kill would be impossible.

Izuna was stuck - he wouldn't be able to hit her throat or stomach without impaling himself on bones. But he needed to kill her as fast as possible.

...If he took a page from his Rival...

Izuna was fast - faster than her. And she was building all her armor in front of her. If he got behind her, all he needed to do was to strike _first_.

Izuna lowered his sword and prepared to cut backward. Then he flickered behind her.

He couldn't see her face as he slid his sword behind him, where he knew the Kaguya’s throat was, but he could see bones growing explosively in the corner of his vision. Everything seemed still to his Sharingan, but the bones were still visibly growing. Izuna felt a few bones prick at his back but he was in too far to quit now. He focused and pushed his sword into the gaps in her armor that he could visualize from his memory.

There was resistance to his strike, but he was able to slip the blade between the bones and into muscle. He heard a choked noise behind him and before the bones could pierce through his armor, Izuna flickered away, tearing his sword out from the woman’s neck in the process.

He flipped around, ready to attack again if needed, but the Kaguya didn't move.

Izuna watched the body sway onto the lines of ninja wire still tangled around it. He didn't lower his sword.

(Something was off.)

(There was blood spatter from the injury, but it had stopped. Too quickly.)

Izuna signaled for his clansmen to stay back, and stay wary. The fight wasn't over.

(Why was she still standing?)

Ice ran down Izuna's back when the body started to slowly turn around, tugging on the ninja wire.

He grit his teeth at the blackness filling the slit across the woman's neck. Blood dribbled slowly from her throat down her front, staining white robes bright red. The woman was dead, her eyes clouded over, but the shadow-thing was still alive.

There was a growing sense of wrongness in the clearing.

The woman's face tilted mockingly and Izuna glared.

"Ameterasu."

_(Pain. So much pain.)_

Izuna doubled over as his migraine roared to life. Fire and kunai behind his eyes and it _wouldn't stop_. His thoughts were sluggish and the otherworldly pain only grew worse. He kept Ameterasu burning through it all, even when he felt himself swaying. Unbalanced, he managed to avoid landing on his face when he keeled forward. He could only watch mutely as a dark shadow slipped away _through_ the flames of Ameterasu and into the ground.

He heard his clansmen's worried voices but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

_Ameterasu didn't burn it._

_The shadow is still alive._

Through the pounding in his head, Izuna saw blood dripping to the ground. His blood. From the Mangekyo.

_How did it not work?_

_(What was wrong with his eyes?)_

(They needed to _leave_ this place before the shadow could bring back reinforcements.)

Ameterasu had failed.

His eyes burned as he dropped the Jutsu, watching the black flames dissipate. There was a circle of torn-up ground where the Kaguya's body used to be, littered with cracked bone spears, senbon, and torn ninja wire. The lying Kaguya was dead and none of his clansmen died, but Izuna couldn't bring himself to celebrate her death. He had seen the shadow escape - their problems were only beginning.

(His Mangekyo had just _failed_ ).

Izuna breathed through gritted teeth as his vision came back into focus. Tori was close, crouching in front of him with her hand held out. She was scowling and her Sharingan was active. Red eyes flickered over Izuna. She didn't look any happier over whatever it was she saw. Izuna couldn't blame her. His eyes hadn't stopped burning and he knew blood was dripping down his face like macabre tears.

(They needed to leave immediately, but Tobirama was still somewhere nearby, unaware of the Kaguya hunting him.)

"Izuna?"

That was Akinao. The man's voice was tentative and cautious. Izuna looked around him to see Aka, pale as death, standing tense on the edge of the clearing. Iesue's jaw was clenched hard enough to hurt as he shifted to join her. Izuna blinked furiously, wiping away the bloody tracks on his face, and rolled to his feet carefully. The pounding fire behind his eyes didn't flare up at the movement and he let out his breath.

Tori spoke next.

"What was that?"

Izuna turned to her grimly.

"I don't know, but it escaped. We need to leave."

Tori glared at him. She was stiff as she strode in closer.

"No. I don't mean the shadow. What was _that_ \- what just happened?! You- you just _collapsed_!"

Izuna winced. He really _had_ collapsed, the burning _still_ hadn't stopped, and he didn't know _why_. He shifted into a crouch, taking deep breaths and massaging his temple to try to lower the pain. He swallowed roughly.

"It's the same answer: I don't know. It's never been this bad before."

Izuna took a calming breath.

(The pain had gone down slightly. He could think more clearly, too.)

"And that is another reason why we are leaving for the compound immediately."

He couldn't use Ameterasu in a fight if it made him collapse.

_Fuck._

(What had changed between yesterday and today to make his Mangekyo ability this painful? Would he be able to restart again? Or would it fail?)

He couldn't afford to risk anything until he had answers.

Izuna continued.

"We'll take a long way back. I don't want to see if the Kaguya decided to lurk on the road behind us."

At that, Tori frowned, pausing in place.

"You're certain that there are more of them."

Izuna felt his mouth twitch downward.

_There are **dozens** of them._

"Yes."

Tori pursed her lips and stared for a long moment. Long enough for Akinao to start shifting in place. Then she nodded and stepped into formation with the rest of the squad. Izuna led them off the road to the northwest. It was less efficient than traveling solely west, but Izuna had his reasons.

He still needed to warn Tobirama, after all.

(He refused to owe debts to Senju.)

* * *

As expected, they were intercepted.

(Thankfully, it was the person Izuna was looking for.)

There was an unreadable look on Tobirama's face when their squads "stumbled" into each other in a clearing, though the rest of the Senju patrol was shocked and furious. Both Izuna and Tobirama signaled for their groups to stop. Izuna could feel his clansmen tensing up for a fight behind him.

The Senju group was five strong. Tobirama, the blindfold-Senju ( _a friend of the Genjutsu-Senju, uses kunai and taijutsu_ ), two blondes ( _siblings - the woman is a taijutsu expert; the man prefers blades_ ), and a younger brunette carrying a stave ( _chakra-conductive metal - he likes to use lightning ninjutsu_ ).

So Tobirama had two taijutsu users, a kenjutsu user, and a ninjutsu user.

Izuna's group had a taijutsu, a kenjutsu, a ninjutsu, and a genjutsu user.

Their patrols were evenly matched, as always, but this time Izuna had a different goal in mind other than fighting.

With a quick 'stay there' signal to his clansmen, Izuna walked forward, ignoring their palpable disbelief. Soon after, Tobirama did the same. They met in the center of the clearing, both deceptively calm.

As far as his Rival was aware, Izuna had randomly murdered his client and set a course toward the Senju group. He wasn't surprised by Tobirama intercepting them. What he was surprised by, however, was his Rival's lack of hostility, or even his battle-mask. For the first time in a long while, Izuna couldn't place his Rival's expression.

Izuna inclined his head toward Tobirama.

"I'm going to make this quick. There is a hostile clan nearby. Total number unknown. They have a bloodline limit that lets them make weapons and armor out of their bones. Jutsu resistant bones. I would recommend retreating back to your compound - it's what my squad was doing before you... _interrupted_ us."

He willed his Rival to understand what he wasn't saying.

_This is serious. I'm not telling you to retreat because I think you're weak. I'm telling you to retreat because something is trying to **hunt** us._

Tobirama blinked, his brows furrowing. Confused.

"If you were retreating, then why-"

(Tobirama didn't finish his sentence. He didn't quite choke on his words, but it was a near thing.)

( _Why were you traveling in the wrong direction?_ )

Izuna scowled and made to return to his clansmen. His work here was done.

(As if he'd answer that question.)

But Tobirama interrupted him before he could turn away. The Senju's voice was soft, with a hint of dryness.

"Whatever happened to those 'filthy bastards' needing to die?"

...

Izuna felt his stomach drop.

_What?_

He took a step toward his Rival, Sharingan _searching_.

( _"I accept. These filthy_ bastards _need to_ die _."_ )

"You-"

Tobirama wasn't surprised about the Kaguya. He had been surprised _yesterday_ but _today_ -

(Tobirama _remembers_ and now Izuna needed to remember to _breathe._ )

Tobirama's eyes narrowed in thought.

( _He **knows**_ \- _How the fuck does he know what happened yesterday?!_ )

"You are surprised that I remember." There was a brief silence where Tobirama frowned, then his gaze sharpened. "...You have done this before."

( _Many times_. Bones and blood and ash, the Senju giving up, Madara's _face_ after-)

Izuna grit his teeth. He was managing. He was _fine_. He just didn't need _this_ brought up when it wasn't necessary-

( _Tobirama knows- He **knows** and what if he tells the Tree and then Madara finds out and **fuck** -_)

"Have I died? Yes. So have you, Senju, or did you miss yesterday?"

Izuna didn't mention that he had died _far_ more than just that once. He was _managing_. He and Tobirama would kill the Kaguya trying to kill them and they could leave and _forget_ that this ever happened. (There was no thought of failing. He didn't think he could use Ameterasu again today - not after trying to burn the shadow earlier.)

Red eyes narrowed, paired with yet another facial expression Izuna had never seen before. The Senju's voice was dire.

"You know _exactly_ what I mean."

Izuna sneered. He couldn't do much else. (Izuna forced his breathing steady. His Rival wasn't going to let this go.)

"Then you should also know _exactly_ why I refuse to answer that question."

Tobirama didn't have a response for that, and they drifted into tense silence.

"...How many times?"

His Rival's voice was quiet.

Izuna twitched. _Why is the Senju still prodding?!_ This conversation was and would be going nowhere. If Izuna could just move past his Rival asking _how many times he'd died recently_ , and on to _just getting the hell out of this trap_ , Izuna could make it through this day in one piece.

(Thinking that brought memories - Tobirama, skewered on a bone with blood running down where his arm used to be. Iesue's head lying on the ground.)

Izuna took a shallow breath.

(He needed to pull himself together. Take care of the Kaguya issue. _Then_ worry about _his Rival_ being the first person to know his secret.)

Izuna glared. He was _done_ discussing this.

"Long enough to want your fancy sealed kunai melted into _scrap, Bastard._ "

More weird faces from his Rival, followed by extreme paleness, and then finally resignation.

(What kind of response had the Senju _expected_ asking questions like that?!)

"A retreat is in order, then."

His Rival's voice came out slightly strangled, but Izuna would deal with whatever _that_ was later.

( _Kaguya first. Then everything else._ )

Izuna moved the conversation forward. They only had so much time until the Kaguya mobilized.

"My squad can escort yours back, Senju. You did intercept us on a mission, after all."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow, his face still doing weird things.

"Did your mission involve escorting a Kaguya? If so, I'd say that that mission is quite finished by now."

Izuna narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have any better idea to keep our squads together? We've already seen where fighting separately gets us."

_Alone and dying in a circle of bone and black fire._

Tobirama's face stilled. He gave a slow nod.

"Very well. Your patrol will 'escort' mine to the Senju-Uchiha border."

Izuna smirked then. Predatory and vicious.

"Good. We have a plan, now we _leave_."

Then he had a rogue thought, and his smirk dropped into a frown.

"Oh, and Senju?"

"Yes?"

"This alliance will only last until we kill that shadow. _Don't_ let your idiot brother get any weird ideas."

His Rival was making yet another strange face, so Izuna took it as his cue to go and tell his clansmen the news. He turned and walked away before the Senju could start talking again.

(Izuna's clansmen were understandably unhappy about traveling back with the Senju, but when the alternative was letting the Senju go freely their choice was already made for them.)

(What could Izuna say? Sometimes clan pride was tactically useful.)

* * *

They had barely made it a mile when the Kaguya showed their faces.

For once, the crazy bastards weren't grinning. Instead, their faces were shadowed, with bone spikes jutting out of their arms and chests, twisting into spears, axes, and pale armor.

"What are these little Senju and little Uchiha trying to do? Escape?"

The lead Kaguya sneered.

"You've been surrounded since you left that city, hehe."

"Trying to run away? Hmm? How... _exciting_."

The jeers continued, raising the tension until you could almost see the killing intent filling the clearing. They didn't make any moves forward, however, and Izuna found himself frowning. He looked between the Kaguya. There were a good number of them, maybe a dozen, goading his and Tobirama's clansmen. But there were also a few other Kaguya simply lurking around the clearing, circling like skeletal vultures. Izuna couldn't tell how many were lurking. None of them made an attempt to attack, or even grew any bones, they only shouted insults and watched. _Waiting..._

Izuna blinked. These Kaguya were stalling for time while the rest of the clan caught up.

_They don't have enough fighters to take us on right now._

Eyes wide, he turned to Tobirama and motioned for an attack.

(Their clans had been enemies as far back as anyone could remember. While the more delicate signals were often unknown, the attack sign for either clan was common knowledge. In the past, if a Senju couldn't recognize an Uchiha attack signal, then that was one very dead Senju.)

With a subtle nod, Tobirama signaled his clansmen. Izuna's patrol was already on the move, Akinao and Tori taking on several Kaguya while Aka and Iesue focused on distracting the others. The Senju siblings were quick to dash to an unclaimed group of Kaguya, and the One-eyed-Senju and the ninjutsu expert ran at another group.

Izuna, for his part, teamed up with Iesue and Aka to cut through enemies as quickly as possible. They would distract. He would target weak points.

It was a convenient strategy that gave Iesue and Aka the protection they needed to get in close, and gave Izuna the openings he needed to take out the bone-bastards.

Tobirama covered for his own clansmen, and within a few minutes they had taken out the Kaguya squad. 

Both his and Tobirama's clansmen were collecting their spent weapons when another group arrived.

_Fuck._

They were tired and the Shadow-Thing had brought reinforcements.

Izuna watched as the Kaguya sneered, ignoring the corpses littering the clearing. They moved in closer, without any sign of fear.

_The Shadow-Thing is here._

( _He had a chance-_ )

Izuna blurted out his accusation without a second thought.

"You thought you could pin our deaths on the Senju."

A man near the front twitched at that and Izuna turned to fully face him. It seemed the Shadow had a new puppet. One of the other Kaguya, crouched in the trees, shouted down at Izuna.

"So what. You are going to die. Is it even important to know why?"

Izuna kept his gaze locked with the new puppet. He wanted the Shadow-Thing to answer, not the berserker. He didn't look away as he continued his accusation.

"To know that you've been manipulating the Senju and the Uchiha into fighting each other for a long time by now? I think that that is _very_ important, _shadow filth_."

(Izuna felt his clansmen stiffen. Confused. A Senju from across the way choked on dry air.)

Let the shadow try to deny _that_.

The puppet-Kaguya's eyes sharpened, and bones spiraled out of his arms like the roots of some unnatural tree.

"How do you know this?"

(The words were hissed in the Shadow's twang, and everyone but him and Tobirama _froze_. None of them even _breathed_. Then they stuttered and _realized_.)

The killing intent in the clearing nearly doubled. Izuna readied his sword, grimly satisfied.

(The Shadow had just given itself away.)

(And by the look on its puppet's face, it had realized that, too.)

The man's eye _twisted_ , and his face was eaten by shadow. Just like with the Lying-Kaguya. The Shadow's twanged words were deadly soft.

"You know too much."

And then the shadow-faced Kaguya _sprang_.


End file.
